Yah Gaal Biaa/The Soap Tree
(2000, 22 min.) MEXICO
Director: María Santiago Ruiz (Zapotec) for the Centro
de Investigación, Experimentación y Desarrollo Indígena/Center
for Indigenous Research, Experimentation and Development In Zapotec with English subtitles.
A group of Zapotec women from San Pedro Quiatoni in Oaxaca reinstate
the use of "soap tree" bark (yah gaal biaa) to wash their
clothes, reducing the use of commercial detergents that, besides
being expensive, pollute the environment.
Image credit: Audience at Club Red Radio,
2000 Native American Film and Video Festival - photograph by Amalia Córdova,
NMAI
