'Kingdom of Shadows' to enlighten PBS audiences

Drug war documentary played theatrically last year; will air on POV this September

Television viewers are about to get a look at an important documentary that might otherwise have remained in the shadows. Kingdom of Shadows, directed by Bernardo Ruiz, will debut on PBS' POV on Monday, September 19.

The film played in theaters last year, one of two prominent documentaries that delved into the US-Mexico drug war; the other was Matthew Heineman's Cartel Land.

Kingdom of Shadows​ examines the issue through the lens of three characters: Mexican nun Sister Consuelo Morales; Texas rancher Don Henry Ford Jr., who became a smuggler in the 80s, and Oscar Hagelsieb, who went undercover to infiltrate the drug trade.

"Despite living in different regions and intersecting at different points within the narco history of the last three decades, they live within the boundaries of loss and tragedy," Ruiz said in a director's statement.
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These three individual stories... tell a bigger story -- of the terrible harm that has been unequally apportioned to all of those whose lives have been touched by the illegal drug business.

   --Bernardo Ruiz, director of Kingdom of Shadows

Nonfictionfilm.com spoke with Ruiz and undercover agent Hagelsieb last fall before the film's theatrical debut. Find that conversation here.

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Former undercover agent Oscar Hagelsieb (right) and director Bernardo Ruiz in the offices of Participant Media in Beverly Hills. November 2, 2015. Photo by Matt Carey

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