FILM "8 MURDERS A DAY" DEPICTS DRUG VIOLENCE, SCREENS THIS FRIDAY

Execution-style killings, caskets carried by teenagers and
bloodstained houses are every day scenes in Juarez.

The shocking clips of drug-cartel violence ravaging the border city
will hit the big screen Friday when "8 Murders a Day" premieres in El
Paso, Las Cruces and Deming.

"It just got too unbearable for me to see all these people getting
killed," said Charlie Minn, the film's director and producer. "To me,
this is not a war on drugs, it is a war on people."

Minn calls the killings in Juarez the "greatest human-rights disaster"
of today.

Through interviews with Charles Bowden, author of "Murder City" and
"Down by the River," local TV and El Paso Times reporters, Minn
depicts a city with no justice. The film lasts about 90 minutes.

Nearly 7,700 people have been murdered since 2008, when a turf war
erupted between the Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Vicente Carrillo
Fuentes' cartels.

"It's extremely troubling," Minn said. "There is a cloud of
mystery."

Minn first set his eyes on Juarez in September 2009.

"I am just fascinated by true crime," he said.

Minn is no stranger to the Borderland.

He had directed "A Nightmare In Las Cruces," a documentary about the
bowling alley massacre of 1990. Minn deemed the movie an "unexpected
success." He said Lions Gate Entertainment bought it.

Minn also directed and produced "Cruces Divided," a nonfiction film
about the longtime rivalry between the Mayfield and Las Cruces
high-school football teams.

Before he decided to film "8 Murders a Day," he read articles about
Juarez every night for a year, he said.

Finally, he filmed for about five days and nights in the city, which
has become the murder capital of North America.

Minn also interviewed professors at the University of Texas at El Paso
such as Tony Payan and Howard Campbell, who have become experts in
cartel war dynamics. He also interviewed Molly Molloy, a librarian at
New Mexico State University, who tallies the murders and compiles
articles of cartel violence in Juarez and other places in Mexico.

Stations in both Juarez and El Paso, such as KVIA, KTSM, Univision 26
and Canal 44, provided footage of crime scenes including the
high-profile massacre in the Salvarcar neighborhood. Gunmen arrived at
a birthday party in January 2010 and killed 15 people, mostly teenagers.

Luz Maria Davila, who lost two sons in the massacre, goes up to
Mexican President Calderon to say he is not welcome in Juarez in one
of the scenes shown in advance.

"It's very, very opinionated," Minn said.

Minn criticizes Calderon, who he says is waging a war against his
constituents; U.S. President Barack Obama, who he says is not doing
enough to end drug consumption; and the U.S. media, which he says are
not covering the topic.

"This has to stop in some way," Minn said. "This was meant to provoke
thought and emotion."

He included a solution section at the end of the film. "8 Murders a
Day" will also be shown in Phoenix and Tucson starting Feb. 25.