Andrew Glazer’s docfilm SPRING OF THE VANISHING, a mother’s desperate search for her son and for justice and accountability from both the U.S. and Mexico will make its World Premiere at 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival February 10
By Oliver Carnay
Award-winning filmmaker Andrew Glazer, together with producer J. Weston Phipper is scheduled to grace the World Premiere of Andrew Glazer’s latest heartfelt docfilm SPRING OF THE VANISHING, slated to screen on February 10, 8 p.m. at the SBIFF Film Center, Auditorium #1 and another screening on Wednesday, February 12 at 8:40 a.m.. For tickets, please go to www.SBIFF.org
A mother’s search for her missing teenage son uncovers mass murder and a conspiracy of silence on America’s doorstep; and a mystery of why the U.S. and Mexico are blocking justice from being served.
A group of Mexican women searching for their missing sons uncovers a draconian deal between Washington and Mexico that led to a months-long massacre. A US trained and armed unit of Mexico’s special forces were seen patrolling the streets of Nuevo Laredo, MX when people began disappearing. It was deployed to pacify the stronghold of the Zetas cartel but operated indiscriminately and with impunity. Eighteen-year-old and US-born Jorge Dominguez was among 49 reported missing during the six-week operation. The film tracks Jorge’s mother’s desperate search for her son and for justice and accountability from both the U.S. and Mexico.
Andrew Glazer is an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist. He recently directed and produced the documentary BAD HOMBRES for Showtime. J. Weston Phippen is a journalist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He’s been an editor at magazines like The Atlantic and Outside, and his freelance work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, and Politico Magazine, among other publications.
Director’s statement:
I was haunted when I crossed the long bridge into Texas from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico for the last time after filming my previous feature. Dozens of missing persons signs had been plastered on walls and lampposts around the dusty town and no one I asked could tell me what had happened. It remained a mystery until a year later, when a friend sent me an article in Politico Magazine by reporter Weston Phippen. The Kidnapped American Trump Forgot reported on the covert military campaign in Nuevo Laredo that led to the disappearance of 49 people in the spring of 2018. His story focused on American teenager Jorge Antonio Dominguez who had been visiting his Mexican mother when he was snatched from a quiet street. When Jorge’s mother Maria Dominguez reported the kidnapping to the U.S. Consulate, its response was evasive and muted — and telling Maria had a sense the U.S. officials were hiding something.
I am always looking for compelling character-driven narratives that open a window to a bigger theme. Weston and I believe that by telling Jorge’s story, we could show a new angle on an issue that has animated U.S. politics for decades: The war on drugs. Since 2008, the U.S. has spent billions training, arming and providing intelligence to Mexico’s military in support of its fight against violent cartels. But few have questioned the effectiveness of all that spending. While politically expedient for both the U.S. and Mexico, the militarization of counter narcotics in Mexico has led to more deaths of innocent people and has failed to slow the supply of drugs to the U.S. Mexican cartels are more powerful and deadly than ever. Most people blamed the Northeast Cartel for Jorge and the others’ disappearances. But Maria’s push for justice along with other women with missing loved ones ultimately revealed that it was the u.S. supported unit of Mexico’s Marines. This revelation has remained until now largely uncovered; as a result, American taxpayers are still paying for weapons and training for this same unit despite laws that prohibit U.S. funding of militaries engaged in human rights abuses. All signs are that this will continue for at least another four years. Donald Trump designated the Northeast Cartel a foreign terrorist organization on his first day back to the White House, opening the door to expanded support of Mexico’s military. This time on our last bordercrosing to Texas from Nuevo Laredo, we were determined to share the story of Jorge and the other innocent people killed.
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