# Cartel Land

Cartel Land is a 2015 American documentary film directed by Matthew Heineman about the Mexican Drug War, especially vigilante groups fighting Mexican drug cartels. The film focuses on Tim "Nailer" Foley, the leader of Arizona Border Recon, and Dr. José Mireles, a Michoacán-based physician who leads the Autodefensas. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2016.

## Synopsis

The film focuses on two vigilante groups who fight drug cartels from different sides of the United States–Mexico border.
In Mexico, the film focuses on José Manuel Mireles Valverde, known locally as "El Doctor". Mireles becomes fed up with the local Knights Templar Cartel. He gathers a group of citizens from the state of Michoacán and leads an uprising, driving the cartel out of the region.
In the US, the film follows an American veteran named Tim "Nailer" Foley, who is forming a small paramilitary group called the Arizona Border Recon. His goal is to stop the same Mexican cartel from conducting business in the US.

## Production

Heineman got the idea for the film after reading about Arizona Border Recon in an article in Rolling Stone magazine, and then his father sent him a Wall Street Journal article about José Manuel Mireles and the Autodefensas. "The minute I read that article, I knew I wanted to create a parallel story of vigilantes on both sides of the border. I wanted to know what happens when government institutions fail and citizens feel like they have to take the law into their own hands."
The film was shot in Michoacán, southwest Mexico and in Arizona. Heineman was inspired by The Square in the making of the film.

## Reception

Cartel Land received very positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 90% rating based on 99 reviews, and an average rating of 7.60/10. The site's consensus states: "Raw, brutal, and bitter, Cartel Land offers a ground-level look at vigilante efforts to thwart organized crime at the Mexican–American border." On Metacritic, the film has a 76 out of 100 rating based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Cartel Land appeared on over twenty critics' lists for best documentary and best film of 2015. It was listed as the #1 documentary of 2015 by Indiewire's The Playlist and by Paste Magazine, which also named Heineman as the best new filmmaker of the year. On December 1, the film was selected as one of 15 shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Heineman won the Best Director Award and Special Jury Award for Cinematography for the film in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, where the documentary premiered. He was presented the award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary by the Directors Guild of America, as well as the 2015 Courage Under Fire Award for the film by the International Documentary Association. The film was also nominated for Best Documentary at the 69th British Academy Film Awards and for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 88th Academy Awards. The film received the 2015 Documentary Film Award from the George Polk Awards in Journalism.
On February 12, 2015, Orchard Films acquired the rights to the film. Cartel Land was released theatrically in the summer of 2015 and aired on A&E on January 4, 2016.

### Awards and nominations

| Award | Category | Recipients and nominees | Result |
| Academy Awards | Best Documentary Feature | Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellin | Nominated |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Documentary | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival | Audience Award | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Ashland Independent Film Festival | Best Documentary | Cartel Land | Won |
| Austin Film Critics Association | Best Documentary | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards | Best Documentary Feature | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Champs-Élysées Film Festival | Best American Feature Film | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Best Documentary | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Cinema Eye Honors Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Direction | Matthew Heineman | Nominated |
| Cinema Eye Honors Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score | Jackson Greenberg and H. Scott Salinas | Nominated |
| Cinema Eye Honors Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Production | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Cinema Eye Honors Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography | Matthew Heineman and Matt Porwoll | Won |
| Cinema Eye Honors Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Film | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking | Cartel Land | Won |
| Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Sound Editing for Nonfiction Programming (Single or Multi-Camera) | Cartel Land | Won |
| Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming | Matthew Heineman and Matt Porwoll | Won |
| Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming | Matthew Heineman | Nominated |
| Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming | Matthew Hamachek, Matthew Heineman, Bradley J. Ross, and Pax Wassermann | Nominated |
| Dallas International Film Festival | Best Feature Documentary Award | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Directors Guild of America | Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary | Matthew Heineman | Won |
| Florida Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Documentary | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| George Polk Awards | Documentary Film of 2015 | Cartel Land | Won |
| Gotham Awards | Best Documentary | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Hamburg Film Festival | Political Film Award | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Houston Film Critics Society Awards | Best Documentary Feature | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Indiewire Critics' Poll | Best Documentary | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| International Documentary Association | Courage Under Fire Award | Matthew Heineman | Won |
| Italia Film Festival | Best Documentary | Cartel Land | Won |
| Little Rock Film Festival | Best Documentary | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Milwaukee Film Festival | Best Film | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Moscow International Film Festival | Best Documentary Film | Cartel Land | Won |
| New Hampshire Film Festival | Best Documentary Film | Cartel Land | Won |
| Online Film Critics Society Awards | Best Documentary | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Phoenix Critics Circle | Best Documentary Film | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Reykjavik International Film Festival | Audience Award | Cartel Land | Won |
| San Diego Film Critics Society Awards | Best Documentary | Cartel Land | Won |
| Satellite Awards | Best Motion Picture, Documentary | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Seattle Film Critics Awards | Best Documentary | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Sheffield International Documentary Festival | Tim Hetherington Award | Cartel Land | Won |
| Sheffield International Documentary Festival | Grand Jury Award | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| St. Louis Film Critics Association | Best Documentary Film | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Stockholm Film Festival | Best Documentary | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Sundance Film Festival | Special Jury Cinematography Award | Matthew Heineman and Matt Porwoll | Won |
| Sundance Film Festival | Directing Award | Matthew Heineman | Won |
| Vancouver Film Critics Circle | Best Documentary | Cartel Land | Nominated |
| Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards | Best Documentary | Cartel Land | Nominated |