Cartel Land

Vigilante Groups Fighting Mexican Drug Cartels

In this Sundance award-winning film, Director Matthew Heineman and Executive Producer Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) gain unprecedented, on-the-ground access to the riveting stories of two modern-day vigilante groups and their shared enemy-- the murderous Mexican drug cartels.

In the Mexican state of Michoacan, Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as "El Doctor," leads the Autodefensas, a citizen uprising against the violent Knights Templar drug cartel. Meanwhile, in Arizona's Altar Valley - a narrow, 52-mile-long desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley - Tim "Nailer" Foley, an American veteran, heads a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon, whose goal is to stop Mexico's drug wars from seeping across our border.

Nominated for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards. Winner of Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Nominated for Best Documentary at the BAFTA Awards. Winner of the Cinematography and Directing Awards for Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.

"There are scenes here unlike anything you've seen. Timely, thoughtful and supremely well-constructed, we'd be stunned if this isn't the doc to beat on Oscar night." - Tom Huddleston, Time Out