A Cycle of Fences

In October 2008, Belgian filmmaker Sebastien Wielemans met and filmed Shawna Forde for a couple of hours. 

Sebastien Wielemans

She was the head of the Minutemen American Defense, an organization she formed in Arizona when the mainstream Minutemen kicked her out of their organization. 

A few months later, the project was interrupted by the arrest and two others, Albert Gaxiola and Jason Bush, near Tucson. 

Forde, 43, was found guilty, Feb. 14, on two counts of first-degree murder, the attempted first-degree murder of Gina Gonzalez, the wife of murder victim Raul Flores and mother of murder victim Brisenia Flores, as well as one count of burglary in the first-degree; one count of aggravated assault, serious physical injury; one count of aggravated assault, deadly weapon/dangerous instrument; one count of armed robbery; and one count of aggravated armed robbery. Tuesday the jury found that Forde was eligible for the death penalty on the two first-degree murder counts.

Guided by the local news media, but also by a new correspondence with Forde, Wielemans decided to go back to finish his film, A Cycle of Fences.