Night of the Coyotes
Black screen with the CPH:DOX F:ACT Award 2024 laurels at the center.
[MUSIC BEGINS OVER NATURE SOUNDS]
Tracking shot of tall grass and a cactus sticking out above it at night.
A child swings around parking lot ballards.
Shoes hanging from a telephone wire at night.
A tracking shot of green mountains with houses sitting on distant hills and a horse grazing.
Three children walk through tall grass.
An empty classroom with three desks in the back and wooden crates and strewn papers on the floor.
Seven children sit at desks in a neat classroom, all wearing medical face masks.
TEACHER (in Spanish): Can any of you explain what “migration” is?
The teacher at the head of the classroom in front of a whiteboard, also wearing a face mask, walks back and forth as she speaks.
TEACHER: Have you ever heard the word at home?
A window curtain billows slightly with a soft wind.
Close-up on a photograph of two women in formal dresses, one young and one older.
A quarter shot of the teacher speaking to her class.
TEACHER: Your mom is in the United States?
A seated young student wearing a bow in her hair and a face mask with cartoon characters on it.
STUDENT: She has just left.
Shaky, point-of-view footage of tall grass as the person holding the camera walks through it at night.
A few people move in the dark, one of them holding a flashlight.
An abandoned or still in-construction building sits in a green, hilly landscape with a large cactus in front. We see the building from another angle, large metal wires protruding from the half built concrete structure.
KEVIN (in voiceover): It all started in the 1970s...
A guide, Kevin, speaks to a group of four people beside the building.
KEVIN: ...when the community started leaving, leaving, leaving, leaving, leaving...
Close-up on Kevin who is wearing glasses and a button-up shirt with two stripes of a decorative pattern on it. Cut to a large house.
KEVIN: ...to fulfill the American dream.
A river with a large tree in the middle of it.
[BIRD SOUNDS ABOVE THE SWELLING MUSIC]
A man wearing a wide-brimmed hat digs in a graveyard. Cut to more men standing around a construction project in the graveyard.
KEVIN (in voiceover): It is a costly dream...
Two seated people, one of them drinking a festive drink with two paper umbrellas sticking out of it.
KEVIN: Most of our parents did not want us to live what they lived.
Kevin stands and speaks to a small group of people. They are siting around a table outside under a small tent strung with lights.
KEVIN: Therefore came a moment when the community decided to do something bigger.
[MUSIC SHIFTS, FEATURING MORE GUITAR]
Three men wearing camo, and one of them holding a large gun, walk down a dusty street.
A man confronts the three men.
MAN: I don’t...
Close-up on the man holding a gun and wearing a black balaclava.
MAN IN BALACLAVA: The suitcase, motherfuckers! Or I’ll kill him!
[SHOT RINGS OUT]
The man who had confronted them falls to the ground.
The man in the balaclava addresses four people standing up against a wall.
MAN IN BALACLAVA: You already know...
Close-up on the man in the balaclava.
MAN IN BALACLAVA: ...that it is very difficult to cross the border.
Three people walk in the dark.
MAN IN BALACLAVA (in voiceover): You still have to walk three days in the burning sun. At the border what matters most is first your life and second your life.
Close-up on seated people.
A group of people crouch on the ground.
[CAR SIREN IN BACKGROUND]
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Face to the ground!
Close-up on a law enforcement officer sitting in a car and speaking into a mic.
Wide shot of a cavernous structure filled with multiple small fires burning in the dark.
Close-up on a man on his knees putting his hands behind his head.
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Open legs!
A law enforcement officer handcuffs a woman wearing a face mask and leads her away.
Close-ups on people’s faces as they are driven away in the night in the back of a truck.
[GUITAR MUSIC CONTINUES]
A young girl looks out the window in the back seat of a car.
A man and a young boy ride a motorcycle down the street, with a dog trotting behind them.
A young boy captures a grasshopper in a plastic cup.
A family all in formal wear, the men and boys in button-up white shirts, and the women in dresses, sit in plastic chairs in front of a television set. A toddler plays in front of the TV.
A man and boy sit on wooden chairs outside eating corn on the cob.
Three young people sit at a pool beneath a small waterfall feature, letting the water pour over them. Two girls hold on to the pool’s edge and kick their legs out in front of them.
Close-up on two seated girls.
Close-up on an older woman in a corn field, holding a plant.
A girl swings an even younger girl around as her seated family watches on.
Two men in workwear sanitize an empty pool. Two children play with a ball.
[POLICE SIREN GOES OFF LOUDLY]
A police car drives down a road at night, surrounded by small buildings.
In daylight, a large cactus is visible from the empty doorway of a building.
[BIRDS CHIRP OVER THE GUITAR MUSIC]
The text “Night of the Coyotes” appears over the image of the large cactus in the doorframe.
The text “A film by” and then a list of names in two columns “Clara Trischler, Marielle Pohlmann, Miriam Ortiz Guzmán, Baruch Arias, Florian Brüning, Thomas Herberth, Tilman Eberle” appears.
The background goes to black.
The man who was shot earlier lays on the floor with a blood stain on his white t-shirt beside another person. The shot goes wide and both men get up off the floor.
Against a black background, four logos appear for production companies.
Against a black background, the text “Supported by” and eight more logos for production companies.
Saturday, May 3
2:30 pm | Linder Theater
New York Premiere
Director in Attendance: Clara Trischler
2024 | 79 min | Mexico
The rural Mexican town of El Alberto has several tourist attractions—a waterpark, zip-lines, and pristine swimming pools. Foremost among its offerings is the Caminata, a simulated walkthrough of a border crossing. Complete with gang members, border police, and night patrols, many of the actors in the Caminata have firsthand experience with immigration. Through reenactment, the townspeople of El Alberto gain insights into why people leave and the journey that comes after the crossing.
The screening will be followed by a talkback with the director, Clara Trischler, moderated by filmmaker and New York University assistant professor of history Irvin Ibarguen.
Check out the full Margaret Mead Film Festival schedule.