La Isla—Archives of a Tragedy
(85 minutes)  Germany/Guatemala

Director: Uli Stelzner
Producers: Uli Stelzner, Elke Benz, Zoran Solomun

Description:
At the end of the 20th century in Guatemala the army and police killed and abducted hundreds of thousands of people, but the unprecedented genocide in Central America’s modern history went unpunished. However, in July 2005 a huge explosion in the Guatemalan capital led to the discovery of the historic archive of Guatemala’s national police. On the grounds of where a police academy now exists, there was once a secret prison operated by the notorious Policía Nacional squads. It was here that millions of documents appeared. The film traces the story of a tragedy and finds proof of inconceivable atrocities. It is also a movie about a young generation of archive workers willing to free their society from the stranglehold of its own history.

Biography:
German author and filmmaker Uli Stelzner has lived in Bolivia, Peru, Cuba, Nicaragua and Siberia. He co-founded the media group Iska. Since 1992 his credits include Mobile Cinema and Visual Remembrance. Stelzner is a member of the German association of documentaries Agdok and co-founder of the Guatemalan association of audiovisuals AgaCine. He also founded the Guatemalan film festival Memory, Truth and Justice in 2010. He splits his time between Berlin and Central America.

Contact Information:
Iska Cine
E-mail: iskacine@yahoo.de
Web site: www.iskacine.com