SF ShortsManzanal Screened Oct. 23-25
“Startling. Become a witness to massacres in El Salvador at the hands of the US government.” – F3 Film Magazine
Manzanal USA, El Salvador Documentary Film Website
Nearly 40 years later, 12 Latinx millennials bear witness to Rufina Amaya's grave testimony about what happened at El Mozote.
Nearly 40 years later, 12 Latinx millennials bear witness to Rufina Amaya's grave testimony about what happened at El Mozote.
DIRECTOR PROFILE
Jon Ayon
Director Bio : Jon Ayon is a filmmaker from LA. He began his career directing music videos for punk & indie bands in the Pacific Northwest. In Oakland, he worked as a Camera Operator and Editor for KDOL-TV & graduated from San Francisco State University's School of Cinema with honors. His work has earned him awards from The Annenberg Foundation, The Caucus for Producers, Writers, & Directors, The SF Emmys, and American Zoetrope. Among Ayon’s 11 short films is Sombras (Shadows) a documentary detailing the harrowing anxieties his parents experienced as undocumented immigrants in America. Sombras premiered at HBO’s NY Latino Film Fest & screened at Sundance in 2018, winning the grand prize in the Coppola Short Film Competition. He has worked as an editor on the films Hoodie, The Celine Archive, & Alice Street. Ayon's films highlight issues pertaining to the Latinx Diaspora such as Indigeneity, colonialism, & generational trauma.
Director Statement : As a teenager, I read Mark Danner’s harrowing account of the Massacre at El Mozote. I remember learning about Rufina Amaya and feeling her courage wash over me. Since then, I met so many Latinx millennials who never heard of her. Rufina Amaya's invisibility haunted me. My last film 'Sombras' detailed how my mother fled El Salvador during one of the first civil wars to ravage her country and its people. Throughout the wonderful opportunities I’ve had to screen 'Sombras' in various places, I have met more and more people who like me share the memories and the wounds of wars in our faces, bodies, and minds. I wanted to visually capture this international community of children searching to understand our parents' traumas to better understand our own.
Director Bio : Jon Ayon is a filmmaker from LA. He began his career directing music videos for punk & indie bands in the Pacific Northwest. In Oakland, he worked as a Camera Operator and Editor for KDOL-TV & graduated from San Francisco State University's School of Cinema with honors. His work has earned him awards from The Annenberg Foundation, The Caucus for Producers, Writers, & Directors, The SF Emmys, and American Zoetrope. Among Ayon’s 11 short films is Sombras (Shadows) a documentary detailing the harrowing anxieties his parents experienced as undocumented immigrants in America. Sombras premiered at HBO’s NY Latino Film Fest & screened at Sundance in 2018, winning the grand prize in the Coppola Short Film Competition. He has worked as an editor on the films Hoodie, The Celine Archive, & Alice Street. Ayon's films highlight issues pertaining to the Latinx Diaspora such as Indigeneity, colonialism, & generational trauma.
Director Statement : As a teenager, I read Mark Danner’s harrowing account of the Massacre at El Mozote. I remember learning about Rufina Amaya and feeling her courage wash over me. Since then, I met so many Latinx millennials who never heard of her. Rufina Amaya's invisibility haunted me. My last film 'Sombras' detailed how my mother fled El Salvador during one of the first civil wars to ravage her country and its people. Throughout the wonderful opportunities I’ve had to screen 'Sombras' in various places, I have met more and more people who like me share the memories and the wounds of wars in our faces, bodies, and minds. I wanted to visually capture this international community of children searching to understand our parents' traumas to better understand our own.