About the Film
This is not a “garbage dump film”, though we start in one.
Shot over the course of seven years, 2011-2018 in Nicaragua, Clean Hands is a feature-length fly-on-the-wall “Direct Cinema” documentary which tells the story of the Lopez family surviving against the backdrop of Central America’s largest garbage dump, La Chureca and beyond. It is about family, extreme poverty, the hope and innocence of children, rescue and salvation, and the challenges we all face.
The four Lopez children are ages 6 to 10 when we first meet them. They have never been to school. They cannot read or write. They are kids, prone to mischief and silliness. They rely on each other as siblings, playmates, companions, and friends. Unlike their parents, they don’t fully grasp what they don’t have. La Chureca is the only life, and only world, they’ve ever known.
Through fortuitous circumstance, a philanthropist hears of the plight of the family and comes to their aid. They build them a small house in the country that sits on land they can farm. The kids can attend school for the first time, and the family can escape the desolation and dead-end life of La Chureca.
The children take to their new lives and are excited to attend school for the first time. But, their parents, even after getting what they want, all is not well. As the family adjusts to the opportunity, new home, and farm–life, as it often does for all of us–becomes complicated. Blanca (their mother) in particular must face her demons from her troubled past. She misses her city life in Managua and abandons her family for long periods of time, leaving Javier alone to care for the children in the country, making their promising new future uncertain.
AWARDS:
•Best Documentary Feature
Cinequest Film & VR Festival, USA 2019
•Best Documentary Feature
San Diego Latino Film Festival, USA 2019
•Documentary Gold Award
Columbus International Film Festival, USA 2019
•Documentary Audience Award, Bronze
Chicago Latino Film Festival, USA 2019
•Programmer’s Favorite
Newport Beach Film Festival, USA 2019
•Grand Jury Award, International Documentary Feature
Mammoth Lakes Film Festival, USA 2019
•Best Documentary
HBO’s New York Latino Film Festival, USA 2019
•Special Jury Award
Salento International Film Festival, Italy 2019
•Honorable Mention Award
New Jersey International Film Festival, USA 2019
•Festival Director’s Prize
OFF Cinema, International Documentary Film Festival, Poznan, Poland 2019
•The Cine-Mas Jury Award
Lone Star Film Festival, USA 2019
•Director’s Choice: Best Documentary Feature
Rincon International Film Festival, Puerto Rico 2020
DOWNLOAD THE EPK
CLEAN HANDS EPK
About the Filmmaker: Michael Dominic
Michael Dominic is a multi-award winning documentary filmmaker and photographer from New York City. In the last decade he dedicated his life to making work that has a social conscience. His objective for his work is truth, to show what lies beneath the surface or out of sight.
Before Clean Hands, he made several other films, most notably the feature length documentary, Sunshine Hotel and the narrative short Tulips for Daisy. Sunshine Hotel won three Best Documentary awards and was nominated for another dozen or so. After Sunshine Hotel’s run of almost thirty film festivals it ran on national US television for two years on Sundance Channel. Tulips for Daisy was also nominated for several awards including a nomination from the Akira Kurosawa Memorial Short Film Competition.
His tenure as a photojournalist took him around the globe. His work has appeared in dozens of outlets including The Sunday Telegraph, The Tribune De Geneve, France-Amérique, The New York Daily News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, Playboy, Redbook, Le Figaro, Le Parisien, Bilan, Chåtelaine, L’actualité, Sundance Channel, MTV, VIVA, as well as others.
In the mid-90s he was based in London where he directed music videos, including three for Norman Cook of Fatboy Slim.
He studied film at The School of Visual arts in New York City from 1990 to 1994. At the same time he worked for Annie Leibovitz as an intern and photo assistant.
He currently lives in Jackson Heights, Queens New York with his wife Ting.
About the Music: Zoë Keating
Filmmaker Michael Dominic first heard Zoë on NPR around 2008. He knew immediately that he would use her for a film one day.
A cellist since the age of eight, Keating pursued electronic music and contemporary composition as part of her Liberal Arts studies at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. After graduation she moved to San Francisco and fell in love with the startup culture of the late 1990\’s, building a career as an information architect and data analyst while moonlighting as a cellist in rock bands. Keating eventually combined her love of music and technology, using a computer to live-layer her cello and performing for late-night after-parties in her San Francisco warehouse.
She is known for both her use of technology – which she uses to sample her cello onstage – and for her DIY approach, releasing her music online without the help of a record label.
The music is used sparingly throughout Clean Hands, but it sets an important tone at crucial moments.
About the Editor: Alexandra Kristine Smith
Alexandra Kristine Smith is a film editor based in NYC. She fell into and in love with editing at her first job, where she cut concerts and music videos. Since then, she has worked on features, short films, television as well as commercials for major advertising agencies.
Alexandra holds an MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons The New School for Design.
When she is not editing, Alexandra is rarely idle as she is an avid survival horror gamer, miniature food maker and helicopter cat-mom.
Press & Interviews
Filmotomy Review by Bianca Garner
We Are Movie Geeks Review by Melissa Howland
Modern Latina Review by Eydie Mendoza
El Observador Review by Jose Posadas
Supamodu.com Review by Katya Kazbek
Face2Face with David Peck
A Question of Balance with Ruth Copland
Film School Radio with Mike Kaspar
Gallery
Sales and Licensing
Screenings & Tickets
Global Releases:
USA and UK: Amazon Prime
WORLDWIDE: Vimeo
SPAIN: FILMIN
ITALY: UAM.TV
Film Festivals:
Cinequest Film Festival (WORLD PREMIERE)
WINNER: BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
San Jose, California
March 9, 10 & 13, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
San Diego Latino Film Festival
WINNER: BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
San Diego, California
March 15 & 21, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
Chicago Latino Film Festival
WINNER: DOCUMENTARY AUDIENCE AWARD, BRONZE MEDAL
Chicago, Illinois
March 30 & April 1, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
Columbus International Film Festival
WINNER: BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE, GOLD MEDAL
Columbus, Ohio
April 13, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
Ashland Independent Film Festival
Ashland, Oregon
April 11, 12, 13, 14, & 15, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
The TRT Documentary Awards
Istanbul, Turkey
April 26 & 27, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
Newport Beach Film Festival
SPECIAL MENTION: PROGRAMMER’S FAVORITE
Newport Beach, California
April 30, & May 2, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
Mammoth Lakes Film Festival
WINNER: GRAND JURY AWARD, INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Mammoth Lakes, California
May 24, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
Brooklyn Film Festival (NEW YORK PREMIERE)
Brooklyn, New York
June 2 & 3, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
New Hope Film Festival
New Hope, Pennsylvania
July 22, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
San Antonio Film Festival
San Antonio, Texas
August 2, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
HBO’s New York Latino Film Festival
WINNER: BEST DOCUMENTARY
New York, NY
August 15, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
Icaro Film Festival (Nicaragua)
Managua, Nicaragua
August 23, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
Salento International Film Festival
WINNER: SPECIAL JURY AWARD
Tricase, Italy
September 5 & 7, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
Port Jefferson Documentary Series
Port Jefferson, Long Island NY
September 16, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
AFI Latin American Film Festival
Silver Spring, MD
September 22 & 25, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
Boston Latino Film Festival
Boston, MA
September 28, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
New Jersey International Film Festival
WINNER: HONORABLE MENTION
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
October 4, 2019
FESTIVALINFO
Seattle Latino Film Festival
Seattle, Washington
October 8, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
DocsMX
Mexico City, Mexico
October 11 & 12, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
OFF CINEMA
International Documentary Film Festival
WINNER: FESTIVAL DIRECTOR’S PRIZE
Poznan, Poland
October 18, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
Georgia Latino Film Festival
Norcross, Georgia
October 18, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
ICARO Festival Internacional de Cine en Centroamérica
Guatemala, Guatemala
November 13 & 15, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
Lone Star Film Festival
WINNER: THE CINE-MAS JURY AWARD
Fort Worth, Texas
November 14 & 17 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
Harlem Docfest
Harlem, NY
November 16, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
Intimalente/Intimatelens Film Festival
Caserta, Italy
December, 2019
FESTIVAL INFO
DOCFEED
Eindhoven, The Netherlands
February 14, 2020
FESTIVAL INFO
Rincón International Film Festival
WINNER: DIRECTOR’S CHOICE: BEST DOCUMENTARY
Rincón, Puerto Rico
August 7 to September 6, 2020.
FESTIVAL INFO
Ciclo de Cine Centroamericano Vienna
CLOSING NIGHT FEATURE
Vienna, Austria
November 22, 2020
FESTIVAL INFO
Devour Film Festival
Nova Scotia, Canada
October 24, 2021.
FESTIVAL INFO
Docs Valencia
Valencia, Spain
November 3 & 6, 2021.
FESTIVAL INFO