Director Juan Mandelbaum was idly googling an old college sweetheart when he unearthed a horrifying piece of news. Patricia, the girl in question and then still only in her 20s, had been kidnapped, tortured and murdered by the Argentinean state 30 years previously. This shocking revelation inspired him to return home to Argentina after a long exile in the US and learn for himself the circumstances surrounding her death.

Our Disappeared interweaves personal testimony with archival footage and follows Mandelbaum’s attempts to understand the atmosphere of fear pervading Argentina during Jorge Rafael Videla’s dictatorship in the late 70s.

Patricia was one of Videla’s victims, known in Argentina as los desaparecidos - or the disappeared. She was one of 30,000 left-wing sympathisers who had been executed by the military junta during Argentina’s “Dirty War”. This seven year period of persecution and mass murder attempted to suppress anyone whom the regime considered a threat.

Our Disappeared is a deeply moving remembrance of lost youth and thwarted idealism during some of Argentina’s darkest days.

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Festivals and Awards

Winner

Human Rights Award, Docúpolis International Doc Festival, 2009
Audience Choice, Chicago Latino Film Festival, 2009
Golden Remi Award, WorldFest International Film Festival, 2009