MIDNIGHT FAMILY Portrait

In Mexico City, there are fewer than 45 emergency government ambulances for nine million people. In response, a dysfunctional system of privately owned ambulances has taken over the city’s healthcare system.

MIDNIGHT FAMILY intimately follows the Ochoa family as they struggle to compete in transporting patients during the graveyard shift. Each trip is a tricky balance of ethics and empathy: the Ochoa’s must arrive first to the scene to give care for the injured, but also for their financial self-interest. It is a ruthless industry, filled with corruption and desperation. Through a verité approach, filmmaker Luke Lorentzen captures the adrenaline of the mayhem and the quiet moments of reflection as the family waits for a call. The result is gripping, exhilarating and complex.