Comala
By Gian Cassini (’17) | Director/Writer
“El Jimmy” is the nickname of a low-level criminal who allegedly carried out a series of murders-for-hire in his native Mexico at the cost of just a few hundred dollars apiece. He met his end in 2010, an unsolved murder likely committed by someone just like him. Filmmaker Gian Cassini is El Jimmy’s son, and his documentary, “Comala“, is an attempt to contend with his estranged father’s history of violence – and, to whatever extent it’s possible, understand him. It’s a deeply personal exploration, of course. Still, Cassini’s questions about the sins of the father and their impact on later generations are as old and as universal as that phrase itself.