VII CLACPI FESTIVAL REPORT
By Amalia Córdova, Latin American Program Coordinator,
Film and Video Center - 7/5/06
Eighth International Film and Video Festival of Indigenous
Peoples,
"Raíz de la Imágen/Image Roots"
May 27- June 12, 2006, Oaxaca, Mexico
FESTIVAL OVERVIEW
For eight days, the Eighth International Film and Video Festival
of Indigenous Peoples, Raíz de la Imágen/Image Roots,
brought together independent, community and indigenous filmmakers
and producers from the Americas, Australia, West Africa and beyond,
presenting works in competition, features, documentaries, panels
and special events to a local and international audience, filling
the theaters of downtown Oaxaca.
Oaxaca, a beautiful city set in a vast valley surrounded by mountains,
was at the same time occupied by a prolonged statewide strike
and sit-in of mainly indigenous teachers. This strike resulted
in delicate but productive negotiations for the festival's Opening
and Closing Night ceremonies to be held in the historic Teatro
Macedonio Alcalá, located in one of the main intersections
of the teacher's two-week occupation. The festival screened in
three other venues, Casa de la Ciudad, Teatro Juárez and
the Cine Club El Pochote.
This year, the festival screened 58 works in competition with
extensive Q&A sessions, a three day-long producers meeting,
press conferences, meetings, ample press coverage and CLACPI's
Plenary Assembly, held every two years.
Jury:
- JAIME MARTÍNEZ LUNA (Zapotec) poet, performer, Mexico.
- MARTHA RODGRIGUEZ, filmmaker, Colombia.
- JUAN CARLOS RULFO, filmmaker, Mexico.
- MARINA STAVENHAGEN, Head of National Cinematheque, President
of Association of Women in Film and Television, Mexico.
- ANA VILACAMA (Quechua), Filmmaker, CEFREC-CAIB National Plan
of Indigenous Communication, Bolivia.
SCREENINGS & CALENDAR OF EVENTS
May 27- 31 Community Screenings
CLACPI Community Screenings in 82 communities throughout the Mexican
states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Yucatán. CLACPI
filmmakers and guest presenters travelered to different sites
to screen works of the festival in Native communities, documenting
the screenings and the responses from community members.
Overview of the Festival events in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca:
The festival was attended by an audience of over 13 thousand people.
June 2nd, 7 pm: Opening Night, Teatro Macedonio Alcalá
June 3 - 4: Children's matinee screenings, El Pochote.
June 3 - 9: Morning panels, roundtables and workshops
with attending delegations
2 - 10 pm: Screenings in three venues.
June 4: Trudell screening, preceeded by Gesture
Down (I Don't Sing)
The NMAI program was very well received at both of its screenings.
The Sunday night screening was at spacious theater with a great
screen with perfect sound and was very well attended (some 300
people). A CD of Trudell's music was played while people were
seated.
Guadalberto Gomez, from Venezuela, introduced the program and
presented Elizabeth Weatherford, Head of Film and Video Center.
Elizabeth thanked the Festival and spoke a bit about the Museum.
She then presented Amalia Córdova, Latin American Program
Coordinator, who presented the film.
After the screening the presenter said he could only do one
thing: he shouted out "Vivan los Pueblos Indígenas!"(Long
live indigenous peoples!) and the audience echoed his cry. Then
he did it again and louder, and everyone responded even louder.
Then he reintroduced Elizabeth and Amalia to take questions.
A young Zapotec filmmaker named Mayra García said:
"I want to thank you for bringing this movie, I am
impressed at resistence there and... I think I would like
to show it in my community so people can see the struggle
that is still going on there, because we all are struggling."
She paused for a moment, composing herself because she was
about to burst into tears. Someone else asked if John was still
alive- Elizabeth responded and gave an overview of the venues
where the film has screened and how John Trudell usually performed
as well. We ended with John Trudell and Heather Rae's hope that
this film would travel further & further South.
Afterwards, people commented they had never heard of John or
his music, and now everyone wanted to hear more. There was a
repeat screening at a smaller but beautiful venue , the Cas
de la Ciudad, two days later.
June 7, 10 - 11am: Lecture on Archives and Videotheques
with Mick Newnham, National Film & Sound Archive, Australia.
Ex-casino, Teatro Macedonio Alcalá
Lecture on Archives and Videotheques with Mick Newnham of the
National Film & Sound Archive of Australia. Mick presented
his experience diagnosing and installing audiovisual archives
in southeast Asia. Similar climatic conditions in Mexico made
this an interesting lecture for the audience, but technical difficulties
resulted in Mick needing to end his presentation abruptly. Translation
support provided by Dr. Juan Salazar, University of Western Sydney.
June 5, 6 and 8th, 10am - 1pm: 5th International Meeting
of Indigenous Filmmakers
Ex-casino, Teatro Macedonio Alcalá
Meeting of filmmakers in attendance to discuss their experiences
along with other guests on panels on indigenous communication
and distribution strategies (see more detailed description below).
June 7, 11am - 12pm, Special Presentation With Víctor
Masayesva, Jr. (Hopi)
Ex-casino, Teatro Macedonio Alcalá
Victor Masayesva Jr. (Hopi) has strengthened Native identity and
politics for his people and indigenous peoples of the Americas.
He presented his most recent work "Paatuwaquatsi" on
the 2006 H2OPI Water Run from Hopi territory to Mexico City.
June 8, 4 - 6 pm, Panel: Indigenous Women: from Screen
to Camera
Instituto de Humanidades (at UABJO)
Panel discussion on the image of indigenous women in Mexican media.
This panel crowns the special exhibition with the same name (see
more detailed description below).
June 9, 10 - 11am: Special Presentation With Mansour Sora
Wade (Senegal)
Ex-casino,Teatro Macedonio Alcalá
Acclaimed director Mansour Sora Wade gave a master class on the
development of independent film in Senegal, emphasizing community
participation in film and video production.
June 9: Closing Night & Awards Ceremony, Teatro Macedonio
Alcalá
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS, PANELS AND FIFTH PRODUCERS
MEETING
5th International Meeting of Indigenous Filmmakers
These meetings are routinely held during CLACPI festivals to
further the exchange between indigenous Latin American mediamakers,
who rarely get to meet and see each other's works. Festival participants
and interested individuals met at the Teatro Alcalá over
three days for sessions from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm. Both filmmakers
and reporters documented the sessions. On the average, at least
fifty people were in attendance each day. The meeting was coordinated
by Alberto Muenala (Kichwa), who also served as presenter and
moderator, Amalia Córdova, FVC-NMAI, manager of special
presentations and written record, and Guillermo Monteforte of
Ojo de Agua Comunicación.
Panel: "Indigenous Women: from Screen to Camera"
and Women's Meeting
On June 8, from 4 - 6 pm, the panel Indigenous Women: from
Screen to Camera was held at the Instituto de Humanidades
(UABJO). This panel was organizad and moderated by programmer
Tania Palacios to discuss the image of indigenous women in Mexican
media. It was programmed to crown the three-day special exhibition
of works featuring indigenous women of Mexico, beginning with
their representation in early Mexican cinema and ending with self-produced
media by and about indigenous women in Mexico.
Due to the overwhelming amount of issues put forth during the
panel, a second meeting was held after a break. Less women were
in attendance, but a motion to network and set a precedent provided
a framework for discussion and resulted in a list of petitions
to be presented to the forthcoming CLACPI Assembly. A local group
also agreed to organize a meeting to address issues particularly
affecting indigenous women's participation in indigenous media
in Mexico.
OTHER EVENTS
CLACPI Assembly
A three-day meeting held after the festival, where the CLACPI
delegates drafted a Code of Ethics and elected the new directive,
including next festival planning team. The new President of CLACPI
is filmmaker Alberto Muenala (Kichwa) of Ecuador.
Press conferences
A major press conference was held before the festival and press
invited CLACPI festival organizers and filmmakers daily to speak
at community radios engaged in the teacher's strikes.
AWARDS
Presented in the city of Oaxaca, Oaxaca, June 6, 2006
Awards
- TRESPASSING, by Carlos DeMenezes, U.S.A.
- DULCE CONVIVENCIA (SWEET GATHERING), by Filoteo Gómez
Martínez (Mixe), Mexico.
- MEU PERMEIRO CONTATO (MY FIRST CONTACT) BY Mari Corrêa
AND Kumaré Ikpeng (Ikpeng), Brazil
- SIPAKAPA QALK'O PIRK' EY XIK (SIPAKAPA IS NOT FOR SALE) by
Álvaro Revenga, Guatemala.
- GUATEMALA: TIERRA ARRASADA (GUATEMALA: RAZED LAND ), by José
Gaya, Guatemala/Mexico.
Jury's Honorable Mentions
- ISKAY YACHAY (LOS DOS SABERES) by Rodrigo Otero and Maja Tillman,
Perú
- DARINI INICIAÇAO ESPIRITUAL XAVANTE, by Caimi
Waiasse (Xavante), Brasil
- EL VELO DE BERTA (BETHA'S VEIL), by Jeannette Paillán
(Mapuche) and Esteban Larrain, Chile
- WIÑAY QAMAN PACHA (Indigenous Wordviews)
Patricio Luna (Aymara), Bolivia
- EMITERIO, by Diego Seppi & José Tabarelli, Argentina
- WIXAGE ANAI (WAKE UP, GET UP), by Anthony Rauld and Jvken
Mapu, Chile.
- PA PODER QUE NOS DEN TIERRA (POWER TO GIVE US LAND), by Mauricio
Acosta for ACIN, Colombia.
Special Acknowledgements
The jury recognized two outstanding works:
- SACHATA KISHPICHIK MANI (I AM A DEFENDER OF THE FOREST) by
Eriberto Gualinga Montalvo (Sarayaku Kichwa), Ecuador
- VENCIENDO EL MIEDO (OVERCOMING FEAR) by María Morales
Tarqui (Aymara) and CEFREC-CAIB, Bolivia
The Jury also awarded two Latin American organizations for
their work in indigenous media training:
- COORDINADORA AUDIOVISUAL INDÍGENA ORIGINARIA DE BOLIVIA
(CAIB) and CENTRO DE FORMACIÓN Y REALIZACIÓN CINEMATOGRÁFICA
(CEFREC)
For developing an exemplary communication strategy that reaches
all regions and communities of Bolivia and affording them visibility.
- VIDEO NAS ALDEIAS
For a constant, creative, dedicated and provocative effort that
breaks through esthetic and narrative barriers, upholding a
commitment with indigenous peoples of Brazil, impacting and
spreading their messages around the world.
PRESS COVERAGE OF NATIVE EVENTS*
The Oaxacan newspaper El Imparcial highlighted Festival events
consistently:
- Culmina hoy VIII Festival Internacional de Cine y Video
Indígenas, By Karla BARRÓN LÓPEZ, El
Imparcial, 08/06/2006.
- Una forma de hermanarnos: Virgilio Caballero; VIII Festival
Internacional de Cine y Video en los pueblos indígenas,
by Karla BARRÓN LÓPEZ, El Imparcial, 09/06/2006.
*All translations are ours.
IMAGE ROOTS ORGANIZERS
Ojo de Agua Comunicación- Festival HQ
3a Cerrada de Macedonio Alcalá 202 -19
Colonia Diaz Ordáz, CP 68040
Oaxaca, Oaxaca, México
Contact: Guillermo Monteforte, Roberto Olivares
Phone: (52) (951) 515-3264
Fax: (52) (951) 132-8996
comin@laneta.apc.org
www.laneta.apc.org/ojodeagua
(In Spanish)
Image credit:
Trudell - photograph by Gregory Bayne
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