The true story of men trapped underground for 69 days in a Chilean gold and copper mine and the courage of their families who refused to give up is retold in Director Patricia Riggen’s new drama The 33.
Riggen’s stirring tale of resilience and triumph of the human spirit takes us back to 2010 when 33 miners were buried alive by a catastrophic explosion in the 100-year-old San José Mine near Copiapó, Chile. As the world and the trapped miners’ families and friends looked on, an international team worked to rescue the men from the suffocating heat and dwindling supplies some 200 stories beneath the earth.
Following a reception on November 23 in the Guild’s Los Angeles Atrium, and remarks from Latino Committee Co-Chair Rami Rivera Frankl, Riggen sat down with one of the film’s stars, Director Lou Diamond Phillips (Tao of Surfing), for a discussion about the challenges of filming The 33 deep inside two mines in central Colombia, and close to the actual event location in the remote Atacama desert of Chile.
In addition to The 33, Riggen’s credits include the feature films Girl in Progress and Under the Same Moon; the movie for television Lemonade Mouth; the documentary short Family Portrait; and the “Lindo y querido” segment from the anthology film Revolución. Riggen, who is currently in post-production on her next film, Miracles from Heaven, has been a member of the DGA since 2010.
About the Committee:
The Latino Committee was created as a networking group to advance career and job opportunities for Latino DGA members by improving craft skills, networking, and making Latinos better known to the Hollywood creative community. The committee meets monthly, and schedules two to three special events throughout the year. The current LC Co-Chairs are Directors David Rodriguez and Alejandro Treviño and 2nd Assistant Director Rami Rivera Frankl.