Venezuelan refugee, David Mendez, returns home to climb his nation's highest peak before Venezuela collapses completely. When he was forced to leave, he had many mountains left to climb. His return is a chance to summit Pico Bolívar and tell his family what he couldn't before he fled.
ABOUT
Before We Leave Venezuela is a personal journey that follows a young refugee who risks everything by returning home during the height of Venezuela’s national collapse. Wanting to send a message of hope, but needing to confront unfinished business, David Mendez, goes back to climb Venezuela’s highest peak and to tell his family what he couldn’t before he fled.
Back in Venezuela, David prepares for his climb and is immediately swept up in the life he should have had. His happiness at home is tarnished by the knowledge that he will not be able to stay – and neither will his family. As he embarks on his journey to the top of Pico Bolivar, he reflects on the situation that originally forced him to flee. By confronting it head on, David hopes that his next departure will be on his own terms.
David is one of around 4-million Venezuelans struggling through one of today’s worst refugee crisis. His story is a reminder of the dreams they have been forced to put on hold. His mission is to capture the beauty of his country and to remind the world that there is too much at stake to leave Venezuela behind.
FILM STILLS
CREW
Joe Hill – Director/Producer
Joe Hill is an Emmy award winning producer and journalist living in New York City. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University after creating his own major, studying cultural misrepresentation and stereotypes. Joe started his career at Al Jazeera in Doha, Qatar before living working as a freelancer in Chile and India. He later spent several months reporting for The New York Time’s show ‘The Weekly’.
He is currently a shooter/producer for the international team in VICE News where he has produced for HBO, ViceTV, and VICENews.com and Showtime. His most recent work includes a documentary from inside the bombardment in Nagorno-Karabakh and a film about how the Camorra exploited Italy after COVID-19 hit. He also produced a series of investigations into the NYPD and their handling of protesters and a feature report following EMTs during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in Detroit.
Joe has covered civil unrest in Venezuelan, ethnic violence and child abduction in South Sudan, drone strikes in Syria, violent conflict in Kashmir, and reconciliation in Colombia. His documentary report on for-profit orphanages in Uganda was awarded the David Kaplan Award from the Overseas Press Club (OPC).
Luis David Mendez – Co-Producer
Luis David Mendez was born in Mérida, Venezuela. His family has deep roots there, they originate from small towns in the middle of the Andes. As a kid he was fascinated by the big mountains that surrounded him and their snowy peaks. This fascination led to a passion, at fifteen he started to hike, achieving his first summit at the age of sixteen when he reached the summit of El Toro. He became a guide as well as an avid photographer. He studied art photography in university but felt he might not be able to finish his degree due to the political and economical situation. At twenty, coming down after some guide work he was robbed of everything that helped him work: his mountaineering and photography equipment. He had to leave the country.He is now in Chile proudly working as a receptionist and cleaner for a hostel.
Lina Pulgarin Duque – Producer
Lina Pulgarin Duque is a dramaturg, physicist, and innovator. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University BXA Intercollege Degree programme where she balanced the intersection of Physics and Dramaturgy. Her work focuses on using art as a tool for social change. Her most recent credit was Assistant Dramaturg on Greater Good, a new play by Kirsten Greenidge. She is also an Astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian. Her credits include: new play dramaturgy for The Theater Offensive, dramaturgy fellow at Company One Theater, translator and educational coordinator with Acting Out Awareness for their Panama Youth Camp and a member of the Science Advisory Panel for Attack Theatre.
Maria Cristina – Editor
María Cristina is a freelance editor, writer-director born and raised in Puerto Rico. She graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a major in Editing and Sound Design, working in numerous projects through the school as a writer and an editor. Currently based in New York City, her experiences showcase workflow flexibility that ranges from working on commercials, virtual reality, behind the scenes featurettes, youtube mini-series, reality tv, and documentaries. Most recently, she has been working on a documentary about the mental health aftermath one year after Hurricane María in Puerto Rico.
René G. Boscio – Composer
René G. Boscio is a Puerto Rican composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He's contributed music to over 100 episodes of hit television series such as Riverdale (The CW), Blindspot (NBC), The Flash (The CW), and more, as well as many independent films.
Shaun S. Sutton – Producer
Shaun S. Sutton is currently a Development Executive for Amazon Studios. Before that he worked as the Executive Assistant to the CEO to Funny or Die. Sutton began his LA journey as a student in the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC. During Stark, he interned in Physical Production at Blumhouse, Finance at American Entertainment Investors, and Current/Development at Syfy before landing an internship in the UTA mailroom. Upon graduation, he was accepted into the UTA Agent Trainee program where he landed the desk of Brent Weinstein, Partner and Head of Digital Media. At FOD, Sutton works closely with boss Mike Farah and the entire executive team in all day-to-day operations and overall strategy for the company. Recently named one of Variety's 2017 Top Ten Assistants to Watch, Sutton is originally from Overland Park, KS. In his free time, Shaun spends his time writing graphic novels and playing hardcore RPG's.
