This is an ongoing participatory filmmaking project being carried out in León, Nicaragua in support of La Isla Foundation, an NGO devoted to establishing the cause of Chronic Kidney Disease that has reached epidemic proportions in Western Nicaragua.  Throughout 2012-2013 a series of short documentaries will be released and utilized in the affected communities as a means to facilitate dialogue on the issue between the sugarcane workers themselves and the local public, and private, authorities.

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With the world’s eye on Chichigalpa, Nicaragua after a round of media visits over the course of 2012, the complicated circumstances surrounding the basics of the CKDu issue do not fit easily into a nightly news program. OFF AIR explores a deeper and darker reality of intimidation that those affected by the disease face every day.
Intimidation of communities affected by the CKDu epidemic from Nicaraguan Sugar Estates Limited (NSEL), owners of Ingenio San Antonio (ISA) is affecting medical research in the affected communities. Their brand of intimidation involves threatening workers and surviving widows, who earn between 100-250 US dollars a month, with losing their employment and/or food and medical stipends they were given.