Experiencing Interruptions?

OP-ID

The rise in migrant deaths at the South Texas Border has created a humanitarian crisis. The dead are buried as “unknowns” without proper analyses or DNA collection, leaving no hope of identification.

Operation Identification is a team in San Marcos, Texas who dedicate their time to help identify and repatriate their remains to the families who are left behind.

Each unidentified body found near the Texas-Mexico border is given a number for tracking purposes. OP-ID's mission is to turn those numbers into names.

Using the style of Direct Cinema, we follow #0607 as his remains are exhumed and his journey for identification begins.

  • Joshua David Matthews
    Director
  • Joshua David Matthews
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Documentary, Short, Social Issues, Human Rights
  • Runtime:
    32 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 10, 2018
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.85:1
  • Film Color:
    Black & White
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Lost River Film Festival
    San Marcos, Texas
    United States
    November 4, 2018
    World Premiere
    Finalist
  • South Texas Underground Film Festival
    Corpus Christi, Texas
    United States
    January 26, 2019
    Best of Fest | Documentary Short
Director Biography - Joshua David Matthews

Joshua David Matthews is an award-winning filmmaker currently living in New Orleans. His films focus on strong, character-driven stories, as well as current social issues. His latest documentary, OP-ID, deals with the repatriation of migrant remains to their families, after they pass away trying to cross the US-Mexico border.

Joshua holds an MFA in Film and Television from Savannah College of Art and Design, and is an avid hiker and camper.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I met Dr. Kate Spradley during a video shoot for Texas State University. It was then that Dr. Spradley discussed her program Operation Identification. She spoke about the human rights violations committed by various county officials across Texas, and other border states. Bodies of migrants were being discovered and then buried without proper procedure. No one was trying to find the families of the deceased. No one except for Dr. Spradley and her team.

I was allowed access to follow the OP-ID team during their exhumations of unknown migrants. Migrants buried without investigation into discovering who they were. I was able to document many exumations, and the processes the team goes through to identify the remains in order to repatriate them to their families.

It was a great honor to be allowed to join them. I'll never forget this experience or these people.