Alma, a Tale of Violence

Alma looks straight into our eyes and gives us a raw, unvarnished confession of her five years as a member of one of Guatemala City’s most violent gangs. Today, her country is being decimated by an insidious, nameless war.

This application enables the user to page back and forth between a “confession” level, in which Alma tells her story facing the camera, and an “evocation” level, in which documentary photos blend with drawings to give life to Alma’s memories.

-Two 40-minute videos, playable simultaneously
-Hundreds of photographs, the product of 15 years in the field, alongside gang members, and dozens of original illustrations
-4 information modules providing context for the subjects touched on in the confession and shedding further light on violence in Guatemala:
1. Guatemala: History and geography as a key to understanding.
2. Maras: Plunge into the ultra-violent underworld of Guatemala’s gangs.
3. Violence: How Guatemala became one of the world’s most violent countries.
4. Prevention: Can Guatemala free itself from the stranglehold of violence? Ideas and possible actions.
- And 4 languages to choose from: French, German, Spanish, or English

Credits:
Photographer Miquel Dewever Plana has been traveling Guatemala for almost fifteen years. In 2008, he met Alma, and decided to help her produce her confession. Journalist Isabelle Fougère soon joined the project, helping write and produce it. The illustrations are by artist Hugues Micol.
An interactive documentary produced by Upian, ARTE France, and Agence VU'

Note:
WiFi connection and amount of free disk space needed to download all of the contents in this application: at least 470 Mo if you have an iPad 1 or 2; 605 Mo if you have an iPad Retina.