The Room of Bones

synopsis

A poorly equipped and underpaid team of forensic anthropologists is sent to study the countless mass graves in El Salvador, trying to identify the victims using fragments of bodies. Desperate mothers go for DNA tests in the hope of being able to bury the bones of their sons and daughters. Shot in muted colors and with muted emotions, this film on the search for physical and metaphysical remains uncovers the unprecedentedly brutal history of this small Central American country. The impossibility of resolving the local situation is illustrated by the film’s central metaphor hidden in its title: El Salvador is like a closet overflowing with bones, too small for this much death.

DETAIL:
“How many go into each grave?” “If they’re fat, four. Otherwise, five. If they’re smaller, we fit in six to eight.”

biography

El Salvadorian filmmaker Marcela Zamora studied documentary film and journalism in Cuba. She is the author of Maria in Nobody’s Land (2011), which won the ICARO Award for Best Central American Feature Documentary. In addition to filmmaking, she is also a journalist, and has worked for Al Jazeera and various Salvadorian media outlets.

film details

director:	Marcela Zamora
producer:	José Luis Sanz, Julio Lopez, Anaïs Vignal
script:	Marcela Zamora
editing:	Leopoldo Joe Nakata
music:	Alvaro Arce Urroz
sound:	Eduardo Cáceres