Los Comandos

Associate Producer

Show of Force
Directed by Juliana Schatz-Preston & Joshua Bennett
2017 | 28 min

Premiered at the Austin Film Festival, 2017
Aired on PBS World Channel, 2018
Academy Award for Documentary Short, Shortlist, 2018

In El Salvador, extreme gang and police violence produce the country with the highest murder rate in the world. The emergency medical unit, Los Comandos de Salvamento, is one of the few institutions that is willing to take a stand against this reign of terror, and is a place of refuge and community for the young people who are disproportionately targeted. Terror has eliminated freedom of movement for these young people.

Mimi, a 16-year-old high school student is growing up in this war zone surrounded by violent gangs and heavily armored police. Her family and community struggle to survive in a situation that is often referred to as the ‘new civil war’. But Mimi find refuge in a group of volunteer paramedics called the Comandos de Salvamento. Yet after one of her fellow Comandos is gunned down, Mimi faces one of the most difficult choices of her life: Should she stay and continue to risk her life to help others, or flee El Salvador and head north in hopes of a brighter future?