Presumed Guilty tells the heart-wrenching story of a man who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On a December day in Mexico City, 2005, José Antonio Zuñiga pleaded: "God, kill me or put me in jail" as he wrestled with an unhappy love affair. A week later, a boy pointed him out from a police car, and he was arrested then charged with murder. 48 hours later he was sent to prison. A judge who never heard him speak sentenced him to twenty years on the testimony of a single, shaky, eyewitness. Two unlikely filmmakers, Mexican lawyers recruited by Antonio's friends, followed him with a camera in what seemed a hopeless quest to get the case re-tried. The future seemed promising, however, the retrial was assigned to the same judge who had already convicted him, with one variation: a camera would be there this time to record the court's every move. Through one man's extraordinary two-year struggle to regain his freedom, "Presumed Guilty" documents the contradictions of a judicial system that presumes guilt.

In Mexico, anyone can be detained without investigation, accused without proof, and judged without a judge. Mexico has the international fame of having a "medieval justice" system, but the majority of Mexicans aren't aware of this reality. And worse, we don't have professional detectives, and those we have lack the tools to investigate.

How did we get here? This crisis of security exploded when we had a judicial system that was hierarchical, badly administrated, technologically backwards and only marginally democratic. Our judges did not understand that their role was to protect the liberty of Mexican citizens, nor did they understand that this work should be carried out with systematic skepticism of police investigations. In reality, they were only trying to satisfy the chorus of voices, our voices, that clamored for increased security, by handing out more and more sentences, even with the flimsiest of investigations. Jails filled with the poor, our police did not receive the tools that they needed to begin democratic transformation, and the streets filled with delinquents. Today, in spite of the fact that 92% of cases are accused without physical evidence, 95% of these result in actual convictions. The most shocking: 93% of people are convicted without ever seeing the judge who convicts them.

Through the distribution of “Presumed Guilty” we are advocating for every trial in Mexico to be filmed and more importantly, for every police interrogation to be filmed. We want every suspect to be identified through reliable evidence (evidence obtained through scientifically validated methods). The distribution of the documentary within Mexico will educate citizens so that they may approach their governmental officials with a strong message that the presumption of guilt in Mexico must be stopped. Their voices that clamored for increased security, will better define that security in terms of a just and balanced system, not one that is rigged to be manipulated.

2008 Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival, Netherlands

2009 Ambulante Documentary Festival, Mexico

2009 Toronto Film Festival, Canada

2009 Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Greece

2009 Belfast Film Festival, Northern Ireland
Won Maysles Brothers Documentary Award

2009 Morelia International Film Festival, Mexico
Won Best Documentary Award

2009 Sheffield Doc/Fest, UK

2009 Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, Denmark
Won Amnesty International Award

2010 One World Media Festival, UK
Won Best Feature Documentary Award

2010 Documenta Madrid, Spain
Won Best Documentary Award
Won Audience Award

2010 East End Film Festival, UK
Won Best Feature Documentary Award

2010 Los Angeles Film Festival, USA
Won Audience Award for Best International Feature

2010 Human Rights Watch Film Festival, USA
Closing Night Film

2010 AFI Silverdocs, USA

2010 San Francisco International Film Festival, USA
Won Golden Gate Best Bay Area Documentary Award

2010 Guadalajara International Film Festival, Mexico
Won Best Documentary Award

2010 Sarajevo Film Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Won Audience Award

2010 International Human Rights Film Festival, Mexico

2010 SXSW Film Festival, USA

2010 DocPoint Helsinki, Finland

2010 Cartagena International Film Festival, Colombia

2010 Encuentros del Otro Cine, Ecuador

2010 APORDOC, Portugal

2010 New Zealand International Film Festival

“A nightmarish journey into Mexico's legal system that seems lifted from the pages of Franz Kafka.”
David Luhnow, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

"A compelling human story of righteous indignation, heroism, and international importance"
John Anderson, VARIETY

"One of the most buzzed about Mexican films in years."
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER