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🇲🇽 Mexico /Culture & Society

“We Miss Sinar,” a Documentary About the Activist Who Defended Arriaga, Chiapas

From El Universal · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Activist Sinar Corzo Esquinca was shot dead near his home in Arriaga, Chiapas, on Jan. 4, 2019, after campaigning for basic services and facing threats from authorities.
  • His great-nephew, filmmaker Andrés Alarcón, made “We Miss Sinar” using Corzo’s personal archive and testimonies from people who knew his work.
  • The documentary will screen at the Cineteca de las Artes and later on Capital 21 as part of the “Against Silence, All Voices” film gathering.

Sinar Corzo Esquinca’s memory may have faded with time, but the archive he left behind has given his family a way to bring his story back into view. His great-nephew, filmmaker Andrés Alarcón, turned that material into “We Miss Sinar,” a documentary about the activist from Arriaga, Chiapas, who was killed in 2019.

Corzo was shot by men riding a motorcycle on Jan. 4, 2019, just a short distance from his home. He had challenged municipal governments while fighting for water, health care and other basic services in his community. Authorities threatened him to stop his activism and, at times, imprisoned him in an effort to intimidate him.

Shortly after what happened to him, we began reviewing the material he had left behind.

· Andrés AlarcónHe describes how the family began assembling the documentary after Corzo’s death.

“Shortly after what happened to him, we began reviewing the material he had left behind,” Alarcón says. Corzo’s archive documented both his activism and his everyday life. For Alarcón, using it to make the film became a way to process grief, channel anger and prevent the activist’s work from being forgotten.

He left a great deal of archival material and a record of his struggle, but also of his everyday life. We knew it was part of his legacy, and we decided to do something with it as a way to process grief, channel the anger over everything that happened, and make sure what he did would not be forgotten.

· Andrés AlarcónHe explains why the documentary draws on Corzo’s personal archive.

The documentary also shows sides of Corzo beyond his public defense of civil rights. He trained horses in the wild, practiced equine therapy and invented devices for the animals. Testimonies from people who knew him focus on the difficult path faced by defenders of other people’s rights.

“We Miss Sinar” will be screened Tuesday at the Cineteca de las Artes and later, on the 13th, through Capital 21. After its appearance at “Against Silence, All Voices,” the production will continue on the festival circuit, with hopes of reaching commercial cinemas. Alarcón says the film also invites reflection on justice: trials may take place, but lives lost and harm already done cannot be restored.

At times, you think these things are far away, but they really are not, and that is the painful part.

· Andrés AlarcónHe discusses the risks faced by civil rights defenders and the film’s reflection on justice.
About this summary

Originally published by El Universal in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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