Michael Dominic and Face2Face host David Peck talk about the ethics of cinéma vérité filmmaking, different versions of truth, poverty and white western development, empathy, curiosity and why the little things matter.
Synopsis
On March 17th 2019 Clean Hands won the BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE jury award at the Cinequest Film Festival by a unanimous decision, “CLEAN HANDS represents passionate filmmaking; Intimate and powerful, it is a timely film that speaks to what is happening in central America and takes you places you don’t expect.”
Shot over the course of seven years in Nicaragua, Clean Hands is a feature-length fly-on-the-wall cinéma vérité which tells the remarkable, riveting story of the Lopez family surviving against the backdrop of Central America’s largest garbage dump, La Chureca and beyond. It is about family, extreme poverty, the hope and innocence of children, rescue and salvation, and the challenges we all face.
The four Lopez children are ages 6 to 10 when we first meet them. They have never been to school. They cannot read or write. They are kids, prone to mischief and silliness. They rely on each other as siblings, playmates, companions, and friends. Unlike their parents, they don’t fully grasp what they don’t have. La Chureca is the only life, and only world, they’ve ever known.
Clean Hands is a powerful story of real human drama. There is struggle, togetherness, liberation, and challenge.
Biography:
Michael Dominic is a multi-award winning documentary filmmaker and photographer from New York City. In the last decade he dedicated his life to making work that has a social conscience. His objective for his work is truth, to show what lies beneath the surface or out of sight.
Before Clean Hands, he made several other films; most notably the feature length documentary, Sunshine Hotel and the narrative short Tulips for Daisy. Sunshine Hotel won three Best Documentary awards and was nominated for another dozen or so. After Sunshine Hotel’s run of almost thirty film festivals it ran on national US television for two years on Sundance Channel. Tulips for Daisy was also nominated for several awards including a nomination from the Akira Kurosawa Memorial Short Film Competition.
His tenure as a photojournalist took him around the globe. His work has appeared in dozens of outlets including The Sunday Telegraph, The Tribune De Geneve, France-Amérique, The New York Daily News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, Playboy, Redbook, Le Figaro, Le Parisien, Bilan, Chåtelaine, L’actualité, ABCNews.com, CBSnews.com, MSN.com, Jet, Fashion TV, Sundance Channel, MTV, VIVA, as well as others.
He studied film at The School of Visual arts in New York City from 1990 to 1994. At the same time he worked for Annie Leibovitz as an intern and photo assistant.
He currently lives in Jackson Heights, Queens New York with his wife Ting.
Image Copyright: Michael Dominic and Broadway Bill Productions. Used with permission.
Music Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.
For more information about David Peck’s podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here.
With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.
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