A unique and lyrical portrait of absence in Mexico, marked by the pain of many families who have been demanding justice for six years.
In Mexico, in September 2014, students from a rural school were brutally attacked by police forces and masked assailants as they travelled to the city of Iguala. There, 6 people were killed, others were seriously injured, and 43 students were abducted never to be seen again.
The official response from the State on the forced disappearances of Iguala, what was called "the historical truth", concluded that it was a conflict between two criminal gangs in which the city’s mayor himself was involved. But the relatives of the victims and the rest of the students at the school reject the ruling. Ever since, the families (mostly peasants, humble people from indigenous communities) have found themselves in limbo and they live without having found answers to their questions. What was the role of the local police and the drug cartels? What role did the Mexican government and the State play? That is why to this day they continue to ask for justice and shout "They took them alive, we want them back alive". Vivos is a portrait of absence, a unique and lyrical approach showing stories of pain years after the tragic events. Families that have been marked by the impunity and the endemic violence that plagues the country.
