Documentary feature film “ALIS”
Winner of the Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival 2022 , Nicolas van Hemelryck and Clare Weiskopf’s documentary is the result of a five-year workshop they ran at Arcadia boarding school in Bogota. Having created a safe space, they ask a group of teenage girls to create Alis, a fellow student, giving her whatever attributes they want. Addressing the camera directly, the girls’ discussion of their friend soon becomes an opportunity for them to contemplate their own feelings about – and experiences of – the world they live in. The result is a moving testament to their hope of a better world.
- Directed by: Clare Weiskopf and Nicolas Van Helmeryck
- Cinematography: Helkin René Díaz G
- Sound: Patrick Alexander
- Produced by Casatarantula – 2022
Documentary Feature Film “A River Below”
Deep in the Amazon, the population of the indigenous pink river dolphin is dwindling. Docile and easy to catch, this near-mythical animal is being hunted to extinction and used as bait for scavenger fish. But two activists are each working tirelessly to raise awareness and protect the species. On the one hand a marine biologist and on the other a famous TV star, each has their own very different approach to their one common goal.
“Helkin René Diaz’s cinematography is often striking, with aerial shots of the winding Amazon River capturing a larger sense of the complex nature of the environment and the issues plaguing it.” Variety, Magazine.
“Helkin René Díaz’s sublime cinematography and the way Grieco teases out the knotty narrative make for a haunting exploration of an ethical morass, where vilification is easy, but deconstructing power much more difficult.” The Village Voice – NYC
World premiere at Tribeca film festival April 2017
International premiere Hot Docs, Toronto. April 2017
Winner of Best Environmental Documentary at Sheffield film Festival 2017
Winner Audience Award Zurich Film Festival 2017
Director: Mark Grieco
Cinematographer: Helkin René Díaz
Editor: Dan Swietlik
Composer: Tyler Strickland
Executive Producer: Mike Erwin, Jeff Hewitt, Jerre Hewitt
Producer: Torus Tammer
2017
UNCENSORED: Narco Journalism from Stephanie C. Martinez on Vimeo.
Documentary feature film “Uncensored”
Through the lives of three Colombian journalists, UNCENSORED recounts the peril journalists endured while covering Colombia’s narcoterrorism violence in the 1980s during the reign of Pablo Escobar’s Medellin cartel, the 1990s during the rise of corruption in the military and 2000s during a behind-closed-doors oppressive administration.
Despite differences in time period and situation, there are many reporters today in war-torn and conflict territories who suffer physically and psychologically in similar ways as the Colombian journalists of this era. The film will provide critical insights into the dangers journalists face while reporting from today’s conflict-torn territories such as Mexico, Central America and the Middle East.
Director: Stephanie Martinez
Cinematography: Helkin René Díaz
2014
Documentary feature film “La Corona”
The contestants are murderers, guerrillas and thieves. The winner will be crowned Queen, but she won’t be invited on a press tour as a role model for young girls. Instead, she will be escorted back to her cell. LA CORONA (The Crown) is a character-driven documentary that follows four inmates competing for the crown in the annual beauty pageant of the Bogota Women’s Prison.
Las concursantes son asesinas, guerrilleras y ladronas. La ganadora será coronada como Reina, pero no será invitada a ruedas de prensa, ella será escoltada de nuevo hasta su celda. LA CORONA es un documental intimista que sigue a cuatro candidatas que compiten por la corona en el reinado que se celebra cada año en la cárcel de mujeres de Bogotá- Colombia.
Sundance Premiere 2008
Oscar’s Academy Award Nominee 2008
HBO Premiere in September 2008
Direction: Amanda Micheli, Isabel Vega
Cinematography: Amanda Micheli
Additional Camera: Helkin René Díaz
More info runawayfilms.com
2008
Example Sequence “La Corona”
Sundance Premiere 2008
Oscar’s Academy Award Nominee 2008
HBO Premiere in September 2008
Direction: Amanda Micheli, Isabel Vega
Cinematography: Amanda Micheli
Additional Camera: Helkin René Díaz
More info runawayfilms.com
2008
Short film about Bogotá city
Shot on RED.
Cinematography: Helkin René Díaz, Felipe Aguilar.
2009
Reportage into women’s prison “El Buen Pastor” Commissioned by Global Post
In Colombia, beauty pageants are a national obsession. That these young women want to compete in one is nothing out of the ordinary. What is unique however, is who the contestants are.
Every year, the inmates at Buen Pastor women’s prison in Bogotá get the chance to hold a beauty contest and compete for the one thing incarceration hasn’t denied them: the chance to be queen.
Direction: Nadja Drost
Cinematography, photographies and edition: Helkin René Díaz.
Global Post Canada
October 2010