Film Review: STATE OF SILENCE
by Karen Pecota

Santiago Maza | Mexico | 2024

The job of a typical journalist is to tell the truth about what is happening in their community, environment, country, and the world. In Mexico, independent journalists who are committed to sharing the truth with their audience and countrymen are being radically silenced. The silencing comes in different forms depending on the news they broadcast.

Filmmaker Santiago Maza showcases in real time, a gripping account in STATE OF SILENCE, of what the independent journalists in Mexico face when they report on the realities of the day: local corruption, water diversion away from farmers, and cartel-related shootings. These brave news tellers face grave dangers to themselves and their family members as they are regularly witnessing violence, death, and at times, secretly being relocated—often outside of their own country.

Maza interviews four well-known independent journalists (Jesús Medina, Juan de Dios García Davish, María de Jesús Peters, and March Vizcarra) who tell their stories of how they must be vigilant as they balance career and personal safety while under constant threat to themselves, co-workers, and their families from those who hold power over the local media and the government.

Brian Gordon says, “Jesús Medina describes their journalistic style as “amplifiers” for the people living in what they see as a “narco-politics” state, where the line between the law and crime is blurred; and the continuing threats to journalists have created zones of silence that should never be tolerated.”

Maza presents a documentary with food for thought because over time when a lawless state exists around the world, more and more truth-telling journalists will be forced to be silenced by means unimaginable.