Who Is Dayani Cristal? (In Production)

About the Film

'Who Is Dayani Cristal?' is a fusion of drama and documentary starring Gael García Bernal. The film tells the story of one man's epic journey from his home in Honduras to his death at the border between Mexico and the United States. The investigation into his death is intercut with a reconstruction of his fateful journey. The call comes into the Pima County Sherriff's office at 2.30pm on the 3rd of August 2010. A man's body has been discovered in the desert. The only identifying feature is a tattoo on his chest reading 'Dayani Cristal'. Who is this person? What is he doing here? How did he die? Who is responsible? And who is Dayani Cristal? In ACT 1 of the film we follow a small team of pathologists, law enforcement officials and diplomatic staff at they attempt to give an identity to a man who deliberately chose to obscure his identity as he made his way illegally into the United States. The presentation of this investigation in ACT 1 is built around the conventions of a murder mystery. As the investigation progresses we reveal the story leading up to the 'murder' all brought to life with dramatic sequences in which Gael will play our anonymous victim. By the end of ACT 1 we have discovered that our protagonist is just one of the approximately 400 people found dead in the desert annually. Most die alone with no identification and are buried with no funeral. Somehow, our team has managed to establish the key details of who this man was. The majority of ACT 2 recounts the story of how this man, facing desperate circumstances and an uncertain future for his family, undertook an epic journey through Central America and Mexico on a lethal odyssey towards the border. ACT 3 begins with the body's repatriation to Honduras. We discover that our protagonist's name is Dilcy Yohan Sandres Martinez, 29 years of age, a husband and father to two children - a boy with leukemia and a two year old girl called Dayani Cristal. Dilcy was making the journey to pay for his son's luekemia treatment - impossible to afford on his wage as a farm worker in Honduras. This emotionally devastating climax is intercut with an investigative element which reveals the existence of a memo outlining how a small group of policy makers decided to construct the border wall in such a way as to force immigrants through the deadliest part of the desert - 'the corridor of death'. By the end of the film we have met the man's family, his children, seen his home and attended his funeral. This unknown man has been transformed into a living and breathing person brought to vivid and powerful life by Gael García Bernal's performance. Dilcy is now someone we intimately know whose story we have experienced first hand. Our understanding of the subject has been transformed.