When I Shut My Eyes

"Mexico is a country with a rich diversity of languages, yet the rights of native speakers are often trampled—such as the common practice of never assigning interpreters to Indigenous defendants during criminal prosecution. Sergio Blanco and Michelle Ibaven meet two of these inmates: Adela, unjustly incarcerated for nine years for the murder of her brother-in-law, and Marcelino, serving a 30-year sentence for a homicide he also didn't commit. In their respective Mazateco and Mixteco languages, they finally tell the stories the judge never heard: the violence at the hands of corrupt police officers, the forced confessions, the signing of untranslated documents. Powerfully illustrated by meditative and symbolic visuals, their two voices express their pain, cherished memories of their lands and loved ones, and the need to resist against injustice and exclusion—a struggle that's all too urgent in the UN International Year of Indigenous Languages."
(Charlotte Selb - Hot Docs)