From dusk to dawn El Velador accompanies Martin, the guardian angel whom, night after night, watches over the extravagant mausoleums of some of Mexico's most notorious Drug Lords. In the labyrinth of the cemetery, this film about violence without violence reminds us how, in the turmoil of Mexico's bloodiest conflict since the Revolution, ordinary life persists and quietly defies the dead. 
 
"The Mexican drug cartels have inspired countless films, but never one as final as Natalia Almada's documentary EL VELADOR. After this experience, everything else seems trivial." —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times

Cosponsored with the Latin American Studies Program, the Dept. of Performing & Media Arts and Cornell Cinema

More at icarusfilms.com
72 minutes

About Natalia Almada
Recipient of the 2009 Sundance Documentary Directing Award for her film “El General,” Almada’s most recent film “El Velador” premiered at New Directors/New Films and the Cannes' Directors' Fortnight. Her previous credits include “All Water Has a Perfect Memory,” an experimental short film that received international recognition; “Al Otro Lado,” her award-winning debut feature documentary about immigration, drug trafficking and corrido music. Almada’s films have screened at Documenta13, The Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim Museum and The 2008 Whitney Biennial. All three feature documentaries have broadcast on the award-winning series POV. Almada has received the MacArthur, Guggenheim, USA Artists, Alpert and MacDowell fellowships. She graduated with a Masters in Fine Arts in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design and currently lives in Mexico City.