_Alma: A Tale of Violence

“I was fifteen when I wanted to join a gang.” So begins Alma’s 40-minute confessional, captured in the award-winning web and tablet documentary Alma: A Tale of Violence. As Alma narrates the six years she spent as a member of one of Guatemala City’s most violent gangs, audience members can move between her story and a collection of supplementary imagery. Comprised of photographs shot by director Miquel Dewever-Plana and illustrations by artist Hugues Micol, the supplemental collection widens the documentary’s scope from Alma’s own story to Guatemala’s at large. Alma’s narration plays through under the entire piece, uniting the different visual fields.

Developed for the iPad, but also available in a web video player, Alma: A Tale of Violence is only one element of a larger cross-media campaign, featuring a television program (Alma, Arte, 2012), a photography exhibition, and two books (L’autre guerre and Alma).