Don Quichote. A name that comes up frequently when Anabel Rodríguez Ríos and Sepp Brudermann are discussing the people they work with. Like the small team in Caracas that manages their social media. Or the man in Spain who visits cinema after cinema, in person, selling their film Once Upon a Time in Venezuela. The director and producer duo themselves have something of Cervantes’ famous tilter against windmills about them. They spent five years working on their film about Congo Mirador, the fishing community being destroyed by accumulation of silt and oil pollution. They recorded not only how the village is emptying out, but also the elections – in which voters were openly bought off. “Corruption is everywhere and is seen as completely normal”, Brudermann concludes. Rodrígeuz adds: “We were able to film everything. There was only one time when we censored ourselves. This was when an armed militia passed through the village. The young militiamen wanted us to make a video of them. As a filmmaker, you are always on the lookout for lucrative opportunities, but we knew that this would endanger the lives of our crew, and of the villagers.” Screenings of the film in Venezuela are also surrounded by an atmosphere of intimidation and fear. “But the test screening went smoothly, thankfully”, Rodríguez says. “We’ve now planned twelve free screenings, hopefully with more to come. Not on big squares – usually in quieter areas, in someone’s yard. Five mayors have already said they are too afraid to cooperate in a screening.” “The easiest way to get the film seen widely would of course have been distribution on Netflix; even in the remotest places, someone always has a subscription. But Netflix wouldn’t return our mails or calls, so we looked for other ways.