Diario Films specializes in documentary production for international organizations, nonprofits, and mission-driven brands. From on-the-ground shoots in remote regions to aerial cinematography for global campaigns, we bring emotional clarity and cinematic craft to stories that matter.
Freetown at a Crossroads - The Urban Crisis
Freetown at a Crossroads takes you inside three of the city’s most vulnerable communities: Susan’s Bay, Kroo Bay, and Dwarzak - informal settlements on the margins that are constantly under threat from floods, fires, and a total lack of sanitation infrastructure. For the people living there, every rainstorm is a potential emergency.
The film traces the evolution of Tzu Chi’s approach in Freetown - from providing emergency disaster relief to launching a groundbreaking grant competition that empowered local residents to design and pitch their own solutions. It also highlights a new partnership with Freetown City Hall, showing how humanitarian work can shift from reactive aid to collaborative, future-focused planning.
This is a story about crisis but also about agency, imagination, and what’s possible when local voices lead.
Directed by Michael R Mazur
From the mountains of Guatemala to the streets of Freetown, Diario Films tells stories wherever they need to be told.
MICHAEL R MAZUR is an award-winning documentary filmmaker born in New Jersey. He is the founder of Diario Films and the co-founder of the educational startup, Uprise. His latest body of work - a nine-part documentary series in Sierra Leone commissioned by global humanitarian organization Tzu Chi - chronicles ten years of development work across the country, from the aftermath of the Ebola crisis to food security, disaster resilience, and locally led change.
Michael has worked as a producer at various agencies and created documentary programming for the US State Department, the United Nations (UNHCR), the NBA, National Geographic, Tzu Chi, and various independent production companies and nonprofits in the United States. He was the first-ever media fellow for Kiva.org, creating short-form documentaries in eight countries in Central America and Southeast Asia.
He has produced, directed, and filmed projects across Europe, the Caribbean, Central America, Asia, and the United States. Currently residing in Los Angeles, California, Michael continues to push the boundaries of filmmaking, crafting narratives that provoke thought, inspire change, and captivate audiences worldwide.
A documentary series in Sierra Leone.