DocScapes: Free Screening of "El Equipo"

An unlikely collaboration between a forensic scientist from Texas and a group of Latin American students changes the course of forensic science and international human rights.

In 1984, legendary U.S. forensic anthropologist Dr. Clyde Snow traveled to Argentina to help uncover the fates of the estimated 30,000 people who were forcibly disappeared during the 1970s dictatorship. Unwilling to work with established scientists who had collaborated with the apparatus of the dictatorship, Snow set about to train a new group in the use of forensic anthropology.

He eventually met a group of medical and anthropology students – some as young as 19 – and the team was soon digging up an unmarked grave on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. The group would go on not only to help establish accountability for the crimes committed under the Argentine military junta, but to initiate a decades-long relationship with investigative journalists working on parallel tracks to create a fact-based accounting of massacres and state-sponsored crimes in over 30 countries.

Followed by filmmaker Bernardo Ruiz in conversation with:

• Robin Reineke (Assistant Prof, Southwest Center and School of Anthropology, University of Arizona) 
• Mirza Monterroso (Missing Migrant Program Director, Colibrí Center)
• Dr. Bruce Anderson (Forensic Anthropologist for the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner)

Reviews:

“A harrowing 40-year journey through the work of a resilient team of forensic scientists as they uncover and identify the victims of authoritarian regimes across Latin America and the world.”  --Variety

Festivals:

Best Documentary Feature, Sebastopol Film Festival, 2023
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, 2023
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, 2023

DocScapes is a collaborative project of the UA Center for Documentary initiative and the Hanson Film Institute at the University of Arizona. This Loft screening is co-sponsored by the UA Southwest Center, Center for Latin American Studies, School of Anthropology, School of Journalism and Human Rights Practice Program, with support from the School of Theatre, Film & Television.

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