The Quiet One - a feature documentary film
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The Quiet One is the untold story of Guatemalan-born photojournalist Oscar Gutierrez, who fled civil war, landed in South Africa on the eve of Mandela’s inauguration, and quietly documented the country’s rebirth — from vigils and protests to the music that carried a nation. For decades he was “the quiet one,” always behind the camera, never in his own life — even estranged from his only son for 35 years. Now, as father and son reunite, Oscar turns the lens inward, confronting absence, belonging, and the cost of bearing witness. This is a film about history and healing, fathers and sons, and the courage to finally show up for your own story.
Format: Feature Documentary (90’ theatrical / 52’ TV)
Budget: $464,000 | Delivery: Early 2027
Status: Late Development | Seeking Co-Production, Broadcasters, Financiers
Oscar and Hawk, after 35 years apart
Oscar and Hawk in the US, circa 1982
SYNOPSIS
In 1975, Oscar Gutierrez fled Guatemala’s civil war with nothing but grit and a dream. He reinvented himself in the U.S., then followed a calling to South Africa on the brink of democracy. Behind the lens, Oscar captured liberation’s quiet moments — so quietly that Nelson Mandela called him “the quiet one.”
But behind the silence was heartbreak: Oscar had lost his son, Hawk, for 35 years. On New Year’s Eve 2022, Hawk reached out. Father and son began the fragile work of reunion — across decades, continents, and silence itself.
The Quiet One is a feature documentary about exile and belonging, memory and repair — a father and son finding their way back to each other, set against the rebirth of a nation.
OUR SUPPORTERS
Co-Creator
Mark de Nobrega
Co-Creator
Aguil Deng
Co-Creator
Janette de Villiers,
Co-Creator
Lewton Geyser
Co-Creator
Andrew Worsdale
Co-Creator
Monica Rorvik
Co-Creator
Nicola Bosse
Co-Creator
Michelle Joubert
Co-Creator
Sarah Sullivan
Co-Creator
Valy Demoulin
Co-Creator
Andrea Brown
Co-Creator
Phillip Lennon
Co-Creator
Gillian Stubbs