Cartel Land is an on-the-ground look at the journeys of two modern-day vigilante groups and their shared enemy, the notorious Mexican drug cartels.
In the Mexican state of Michoacán, Dr. José Mireles, a small-town physician known as "El Doctor," leads the Autodefensas, a citizen uprising against the violent Knights Templar drug cartel responsible for serious societal problems in the region for many years now.
Meanwhile, in Arizona's Altar Valley – a narrow, 52-mile-long desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley – Tim "Nailer" Foley, an American veteran, is the leader of a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon, whose goal is to stop Mexico’s drug wars from seeping across the US border.
Film-maker Matthew Heineman followed both these fearless individuals in their quest to clean their respective backyards of drug-related crime. The executive producer on the project is Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty).
Heineman received both the Directing Award and Special Jury Award for Cinematography in the U.S. Documentary competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
Cartel Land is released at the IFI and at selected cinemas from September 4.
