We had the great privilege of announcing Cartel Land as the winner of the Tim Hetherington Award at Sheffield International Documentary Festival 2015. The award was presented to the director of the film, Matthew Heineman, by Judith Hetherington prior to the screening of the film on Saturday 6th June.

Cartel Land explores two modern day vigilante groups and their shared enemy – the murderous drug cartels. The visceral story-telling and unnerving tone of the film captures the brutality of those subjected to the cartels actions and the delicacy of the issue itself. Cartel Land faced stiff competition from three other films nominated for the award which included:
Tell Spring Not To Come This Year, Incorruptible and All Things Ablaze. All four films share an ambition in highlighting subject matters which are topical and relevant in today’s climate.

Tim’s own association with Sheffield International Documentary Festival started in 2010 when he released, Diary an experimental short film which he described as a "kaleidoscope of images that link our western reality to the seemingly distant worlds we see in the media." The short film was shown twice in Sheffield and has since proved to be an important part of Tim’s archive, focusing directly on the realities of living as a photojournalist, "I had to try to locate myself. I started working with Magali Charrier, my editor, and we compiled 20 minutes of footage together. It was enough to give a feeling of disorientation, to show the multiplicity of experiences, switching from situations in Liberia to New York, a kind of existential reflection. I was trying to show what it feels like." As a film-maker Tim continued to push his unique approach to film-making up until his untimely death. Sheffield Documentary Festival gave Tim a platform to showcase his work to new audiences and we aim with the award, to return the favour by supporting film-makers in their journeys as storytellers.

Cartel Land joins previous award winners The Square (2013) and Profession: Documentarist (2014) in becoming a winner of the award. We hope that Cartel Land as well as the other films shown at Sheffield Documentary Festival continue to reach new audiences and inspire thought.                

We look forward to visiting the documentary festival again next year for another chance to see inspiring documentaries.

Cartel Land will be released in US in July 2015 and in  UK in September 2015