Matthew Hamacheck ‘03, a documentary film editor, returned to campus in March to screen his latest project and meet with Cinema students. “Cartel Land” examines the Mexican Drug War and the vigilante groups fighting drug cartels on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Since its release last year, “Cartel Land” has won 12 awards and earned over 30 nominations, including Best Documentary Feature at the 88th Academy Awards.
“We had twenty interns, about 500 hours in Spanish and 200 hours in English. And none of the editors spoke Spanish,” Hamachek explained to a group of students in Professor David Bussan’s “Documentary Explorations” course. Hamachek and his team of editors had to condense those 700 hours of footage into a 110 minute documentary.
Hamachek signed on to “Cartel Land” after meeting the film’s director, Matthew Heineman, at a social event in New York City before Heineman flew to Mexico to continue shooting. It was up to Hamachek and his fellow editors to condense it all into one story. As Hamachek described, “most of the time – even when I have 500 hours of footage, which is sort of typical – we’re still trying to take nothing and turn it into a story, and this was the opposite. There were 700 hours and probably four other movies on the cutting room floor.”
The final cut of “Cartel Land” follows two parallel stories. In the Mexican state of Michoacán, small-town physician Dr. Jose Mireles leads a citizen uprising, the Autodefensas, as they attempt to protect their community from the drug cartel that has wreaked havoc in their region for years. Meanwhile, in the United States, American Veteran Tim “Nailer” Foley and his paramilitary group patrol the Mexico-Arizona border to stop Mexican drug cartels from crossing. As the film unfolds, their stories reveal the complicated politics of leadership and corruption.
Director and co-cinematographer Matthew Heineman’s uncompromising persistence granted him access to shocking and dangerous situations and subjects. From quiet lookouts in the desert, to secret meth labs, to shootouts in village streets, “Cartel Land” provides an unprecedented look inside the Mexican Drug War.
“In general, I think the most interesting thing is how much people want their story to be told,” Hamachek explained. “When this was being covered in the local papers, it was reactionary coverage; who was holding the biggest conference at that point, what was happening day-to-day. But [Dr. Mireles and Nailer] realized that we weren’t doing that and that it was going to be a historical document for the whole movement.”
Working on intense and often political vérité documentaries like “Cartel Land” isn’t new for Hamachek. He has been working in documentary film for over ten years and is an award-winning editor whose films have aired on HBO, IFC, PBS, BBC, and the Discovery Channel. He shared the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Documentary Editing Award with director Marshall Curry for “If A Tree Falls: The Story of the Earth Liberation Front.” He won the award again in 2013 for “Gideon’s Army,” directed by Dawn Porter, which follows three young public defenders challenging the judicial system in the Deep South. Currently, he is working on a Netflix original documentary set for release later this year.
While discussing “Cartel Land” and his career with students, Hamachek offered advice on documentary filmmaking and beginning a career in the industry. He emphasized taking pride in one’s work, working hard to help others, and the value of collaboration and listening to constructive feedback.
Perhaps the most important advice Hamachek shared was for students to be open. “I think, more than anything, you should just be open to the process. Don’t try to manipulate what’s happening into being the story that you wanted it to tell,” he remarked. Hamachek also stressed that students should be open to new or different possibilities in their careers. When he left Denison, Hamachek wanted to direct feature films, but found himself drawn to editing. “I’m so happy I’m doing this. I feel really, really lucky every single day that I go into work. I think it’s a great combination of journalism and filmmaking.”
