In recent years, the "True Crime" genre has gained widespread acceptance among audiences. The audiovisual narrative of the genre captures people's attention by being based on "real" stories. Based on this observation, to effectively convey the important message of our campaign, our approach was to develop a series of three short films that, beyond conforming to advertising narrative formats, relied on the resources of entertainment content to deliver our message more effectively, while maintaining absolute rigor in adhering to the facts of the crimes committed and including the journalistic investigations that motivated the crimes in the stories.

Mexico is the deadliest country in the world for journalists, with 26 murdered in the last two years alone. Journalists killed in Mexico face a double injustice: their motives are dismissed, and potential suspects are overlooked. Public discussions veer towards irrelevant personal details, silencing these voices and burying their crucial stories. This shift perpetuates a dangerous cycle of impunity for their killers.

To shed light on this grim reality, Propuesta Cívica, an NGO that legally represents the families of the victims, recreated the last moments in the lives of three of the most relevant cases of journalist assassinations in the country over the past decade, all of which remain unpunished.

With the upcoming presidential election in Mexico, we wanted to put this issue in the public agenda, looking for the candidates to take a stance and commit to take action to protect journalists.

Interest in non-fiction and true crime have reached a huge peak in the last year. People seems more attracted to content inspired or based in reality. This led us to tackle the issue of violence against journalist through a series of three short films that could attract people's and media attention and help us to shed light in the problem and its causes.

Beyond the short films and its online release, we've been hosting events to discuss the issue and reflect on the cases portrayed in the films and other cases, gathering authorities and journalists to debate and spark a discussion on the most important actions to fight the issue.

Through this dark and hyper-realistic trilogy, our goal was to amplify the silenced voices of these journalists and spark critical conversations about the urgent need for justice and accountability in Mexico's perilous media landscape.

With a commitment to realism, we meticulously crafted a cinematic approach incorporating the journalists' true notes, to expose the hidden motives behind their deaths and bring their silenced voices back to the forefront.

Through accurate staging, with an economy of shots, and pristine photography, our aim was to authentically narrate each murder, immersing viewers into the tense atmosphere of the journalists' final moments. We built for that, a pulsating camera language based on stealthy tracking movements that pursue the characters, moving the viewer -for the credibility, for the tension- to the skin and the last moments in the life of each of the journalists. While our narrative portrayed the events with authenticity, we exercised restraint to avoid glorifying violence out of respect for the victims' families. Instead, our focus was on conveying the palpable sense of helplessness and fear experienced by journalists in their daily lives.

The Stories That Killed Us campaign sparked crucial conversations about the violence against journalists in Mexico, demanding their protection. Emboldened by the project, journalists themselves began questioning the president during his daily morning conferences, highlighting the urgency of the issue, and asked what the government would do to address this problem. To amplify these voices further, a powerful conference was held, bringing together experts and families of murdered journalists to expose the problem in all its stark reality.

The Stories That Killed Us also ignited a firestorm of public discourse around the silencing of journalists in Mexico. People started talking, not just about the tragedies, but about the chilling effect these murders have on free speech and investigative journalism.