MPI filmmaker Francisco Bello wrote and edited the highly-anticipated documentary Desert One, which will premiere this month at the well-regarded Toronto International Film Festival. The film features rare, never-before-seen archival footage surrounding the rescue mission to free hostages in Tehran, Iran.

Bello is the filmmaker behind the MPI-supported Dreaming Against the World. The documentary short tells the story of Mu Xin, an artist who was imprisoned during China’s bloody Cultural Revolution. While in captivity, he risked his life to write and paint—work that in turn helped him survive. 

Bello earned Oscar and Emmy nominations for Salim Baba, a short doc about the life of a cinephile in India who makes his living screening discarded film reels to locals. 

Watch the trailer to Dreaming Against the World below and view the short in its entirety here.