Benjamin Bratt Joins Oscar Hopeful Doc Short ‘Wings of Dust’ as Executive Producer
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Actor and producer Benjamin Bratt has joined the Oscar hopeful documentary short “Wings of Dust” as executive producer.
The “Poker Face” star boards the project with his brother Peter Bratt and Alpita Patel, all under their production banner 5 Stick Films. “Wings of Dust” took the 2023 gold medal at the Student Academy Awards, telling the story of a Peruvian indigenous journalist who risks his life to protect the natural resources of ancestral lands.
More from Variety
The film was directed by Italian-born Giorgio Ghiotto, who just completed journalism school at NYU.
“Giorgio has a keen sensibility about emotional truth. The film left me truly devastated and ultimately inspired to help bring attention to what is largely a global issue,” Bratt told Variety.
The subject of “Wings of Dust” is Vidal Merma, a journalist seeking to combat a new threat from multinational mining companies. Both Ghiotto and Merma were on hand to accept the Student Academy Award this year. Ghiotto, who is passionate about telling stories focusing on human rights and environmental justice, produced the project with Eliza Mitnick.
The star has a personal attachment to the project, as his mother is from Peru (and his grandmother hailed from a region close to where the film unfolds). Bratt and his brother were children of the American Indian Occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969.
5 Stick Films, which produced the Peabody award-winning and Emmy-nominated documentary “Dolores,” is dedicated to telling and amplifying Indigenous and other BIPOC narratives.
Watch the “Wings of Dust” trailer below.
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
