In Death By A Thousand Cuts, the brutal murder of a Dominican Park Ranger becomes the metaphor for a larger story of increasing tension between Haiti and the Dominican Republic over illicit charcoal exploitation and mass deforestation. With stunning cinematography, the film investigates the circumstances of the ranger’s death and the systematic eradication of the Dominican forests. As in so many global struggles for natural resources, the fight for survival leads to scapegoating, xenophobia and clashes between communities marked most recently by anti-immigrant policies passed by the Dominican Republic. These clashes come to reflect the struggle for resources at a national and global scale, which when taken to extreme scenarios can lead to the persistent cycle of ethnic civil conflict and international violence.

Directed by Juan Mejia Botero and Jake Kheel. Produced by Jake Kheel and Ben Selkow.