June 18 - 27, 2004 - Santiago, Wallmapu/Chile

The Film and Video Center's Latin American program coordinator Amalia Cordova and program assistant Gabriela Zamorano are participating in this festival, presenting works from the US and Canada, hosting special festival guest Randy Redroad, and presenting information about NMAI's Community Services and Film and Video Center projects. Amalia is also one of the eight festival jurors and will have viewed every film and video before the end of the week!

Report from the Festival

By Amalia Cordova and Gabriela Zamorano
Film and Video Center, National Museum of the American Indian

DAY 1 - Friday June 18, 2004

"Marri marri ("greetings to all" in Mapuche). Snowy Andes mountains under a cloudy sky, clearing to bright and in the low 50's. Delegations are still arriving from New Zealand, Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia and the provinces of Chile. The indigenous video training workshop that precedes the Festival returns after a two-week intensive training course with indigenous producers. The Festival opens this afternoon at the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino (MCHAP), in downtown Santiago. Multicolor posters are up, the Festival has made national television news, and the program brochures still smell of fresh ink.

4pm, Chilean Pre-Columbian Art Museum

"The first Festival screening was held today at MCHAP to a standing-room audience. Three documentaries were screened, following greetings from session organizers and hosts:

• La Guerra del Miedo/TheWar of Fear.* Producer: Promedios de Comunicación/Chiapas Media Project, Mexico)
• Adios a la Fiesta/Goodbye to the Fiesta*. Producer: CAIB-CEFREC, Bolivia)
• Kupak Raymi, Viviendo en Comunidad/Living in Community*. Producer: CONAIE Producciones, Ecuador.

"An extensive Q&A session on the purpose and individual approaches taken by the filmmakers, with Humberto Claros (Quechua) of CAIB-CEFREC, Franklin Quizpe (Quichua) of CONAIE Producciones, Francisco Vázquez (Nahua) of Promedios and Alexandra Halkin of Chiapas Media Project, and moderated by Claudio Mercado, Audiovisual Coordinator at MCHAP.

"…The screenings continued, followed by discussion with the filmmakers:

• El Condor y el Zorro/The Condor and the Fox*. (Director: Claudio Mercado), a claymation for children based on an Andean myth on how the desert became fertile.
• El Dia 2/Day 2*. Director: Dante Cerano (P'urhepecha), an experimental and hilarious rendition of a wedding celebration, or actually, the day after the wedding, in a P'urhepecha village of Michoacán, Mexico.

7pm, Opening Night at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUCCH)

"Aymara, Mapuche and Andean Wipala flags were the only decorations for a long and richly programmed Opening Night Ceremony. The whole program was conducted in Mapuche and Spanish by two young Mapuche radio producers and workshop participants.

"Welcoming words were offered by representatives of indigenous groups from Chile-Aymara, Likanantai, Mapuche, and Rapa Nui- followed by greetings from the Festival coordinators Jeanette Paillan (Mapuche, of Lulul Mawida Comunicación) and Ivan Sanjinés (The Latin American Council of Indigenous Peoples' Film and Communication-CLACPI Coordinator, Bolivia). Representatives from international delegations spoke, and the very hip Festival spot (broadcasted on national tv in Chile) was screened.

"Two new works produced by participants of the indigenous video training workshops were premiered, focusing strongly on issues of identity loss and recognition by urban youth, and on the unification of indigenous peoples in Chile. These workshops trained 20 participants (15 men, 5 women), from Aymara, Likanantai, Mapuche, and Rapa Nui communities. Participants greeted the audience and spoke on the videos in their own languages.

"David Aniñ, a young Mapuche poet, declaimed two of his hip-hop style poems on Mapuche urban struggles, in a strong performance that was received with applause. The ceremony closed with music and dance performances by Mapuche, Aymara, and Rapa Nui groups, and was followed by an "indigenous cocktail" or reception. A special thanks was given to collaborating organizations and individuals, and a greeting was sent to incarcerated Mapuche leaders and organizers.

"Stay tuned, tomorrow the filmmakers will meet in the first of four forums, to discuss indigenous media issues and initiatives, including the National Museum of the American Indian's Film and Video Center's programs. More tomorrow… Marichiweu!"

*All translations of titles into English are ours.

For more information

More information is available in Spanish at: www.puebloaymara.cl (click on the llama).

For the Festival programs, being screened at two sites go to the Catholic University of Chile - Outreach Center at www.puc.cl/webpuc/html/frames/frextension.html and to the Pre-Columbian Art Museum www.precolombino.cl/not/cineok2.html.

For general Festival information go to http://videoindigena.bolnet.bo/festival/

Image credit: Atanarjuat (Natar Ungalaaq) and his brother Amaqjuaq (Pakkak Inukshuk) share a joke. - Photograph courtesy of Norman Cohn; Promotional video trailer of the 7th Festival which aired nationally and was screened Opening Night at the Catholic University - photograph by Amalia Cordova, NMAI; First screenings at the Pre-Columbian Museum, welcome by Pilar Alliende, Chief Conservator - photograph by Amalia Cordova, NMAI; Q and A after first screenings at the Pre-Columbian Museum. Left to right: Claudio Mercado, Audiovisual Coordinator of the Pre-Columbian Museum, Chile; Franklin Quizhpe (Saraguro Kichwa), of CONAIE, Ecuador; Francisco (Paco) Vásquez (Nahua) of Promedios, Mexico; Alexandra Halkin, of Promedios/Chiapas Media Project, Mexico-U.S.A - photograph by Amalia Cordova, NMAI; Q & A with Dante Cerano (P'urhepecha), of Exe Video, Mexico, at the Pre-Columbian Museum after the premiere of "El Día 2." - photograph by Amalia Cordova, NMAI; Opening Night Ceremony at the Catholic University. MCs in photo: Elizabeth Huenchual (Mapuche) and Elías Paillán (Mapuche), both radio hosts of Jvfken Mapu - photograph by Gabriela Zamorano, NMAI; Opening Night Ceremony at the Catholic University. Welcome by Jeanette Paillán (Mapuche), of Lulul Mawida and CLACPI-Chile - photograph by Gabriela Zamorano, NMAI; Opening Night Ceremony at the Catholic University. Greeting by Iván Sanjinés, CLACPI General Coordinator, Bolivia - photograph by Gabriela Zamorano, NMAI; Clip from one of the videos produced by the video training workshop, titled "Sueños de la Tierra" (Dreams of the Earth), which premiered at the Opening Night Ceremony at the Catholic University - photograph by Amalia Cordova, NMAI; Urban Mapuche poet David Aniñir declaiming at the Opening Night Ceremony at the Catholic University - photograph by Amalia Cordova, NMAI; Opening Night Ceremony at the Catholic University. Closing salutation from participating Indigenous nations of Chile (left to right): Elías Paillán (Mapuche), Elizabeth Huenchual (Mapuche), Mario Tuki Hy (Rapa Nui), Hortensia Hidalgo (Aymara) and Rony Gutierrez (Likanantai) - photograph by Amalia Cordova, NMAI