Resident Dr. Luis Camacho's Documentary Earns International Film Awards

Stanford Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery resident Luis Camacho, MD, participated in the production of Plastica, a documentary examining access to plastic and reconstructive surgery in South America and the systemic challenges affecting care delivery in the region.

Filmed in 2023, Plastica grew out of the mission behind The Luna Clinic, a nonprofit organization co-founded by Dr. Camacho. The film and the nonprofit are closely connected: the documentary was created to raise awareness about limited reconstructive surgery capacity across parts of South America, while The Luna Clinic represents a long-term effort to address those gaps through sustainable infrastructure development.

The Luna Clinic is a collaborative initiative involving surgical residents from across the United States. Its goal is to develop high-capacity surgical centers and clinics that can serve as centralized sites for humanitarian teams and nonprofit organizations, creating reliable infrastructure where reconstructive surgical care can be delivered at no cost to patients. The organization has purchased land in Ecuador and has begun construction on its first surgery center, with plans for a local team to begin delivering nonprofit surgical care by the end of 2026.

For the documentary, the production team traveled to Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru to interview surgeons and healthcare teams and to examine factors contributing to limited surgical capacity. Topics explored include infrastructure, staffing, equipment availability, geographic barriers, and training, as well as the role of reconstructive surgery in restoring function and quality of life.

Plastica was created through a partnership between Dr. Camacho and director Damian Becerra, combining clinical and surgical perspectives with film and photography expertise to present the subject matter in an accessible, visual format for audiences beyond the medical community.

Following its completion, the film had a year-long festival run during 2024–2025 and received multiple national and international awards. Internationally, Plastica received Best Documentary Feature at FICLAPAZ in Bolivia, the Oruro International Film Festival in Bolivia, and the Festival de Cine Nacional in Chile. In the United States, the film received Best Documentary Feature at the Southern California Film Awards. At the San Francisco International Film Awards, Plastica was recognized with the Best Humanitarian Feature Film award.

The documentary was made publicly available in October 2025 and can be viewed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jItLashCoQQ