Innis College – Room 222

7 – 9 p.m.

 

Filmmakers from Mexico share their culture, their politics and their strength as outspoken leaders for indigenous rights.

 

Education in Resistance

1993           21:00

Moises and Antonio 

The Mexican Constitution states that every citizen has a right to a free education. For many Mexicans, especially those of indigenous heritage, this right has never been realized. Education in Resistance looks at the education system that the Mexican government has been providing to indigenous people in Chiapas. Education promoters in the autonomous system speak about their desire to teach in their communities, how military presence affects daily life and parents express their hopes for a new educational system.

Chiapas Media Project

 

The Sacred Land

2000       18:36

Feliciano & Emilio 

For more then 500 years indigenous people in the Chiapas have been struggling to regain ownership of their lands. Until the Zapatista uprising in 1994, most indigenous people in Chiapas existed by working on large plantations for rich landowners. The Sacred Land describes what life was like on these plantations. It includes stories that go back four generations about slavery-like conditions in which people worked for the “rancheros.”

Chiapas Media Project

 

The Strength of the Indigenous People of Mut Vitz

2000       27:05

Jose Luis, Amalio and Jonge 

Begun in 1996, the Mut Vitz organic coffee cooperative currently has more than 1000 members. The video was shot and edited by videomakers who are also members of the collective. Over a year in the making the film shows us the entire organic coffee production process from seedling to transplant, cultivation to the roasted bean. Members of the collective talk about the challenges they face when processing their coffee for the market.

Chiapas Media Project

 

Communicating Communitas

2000           15:00

Edgar Endress 

Communicating Communitas is a portrait of the daily journey through spaces in the natives Wayuu community ib Guajira desert in the north of Columbia. The local radio station, the primary communication medium, becomes the element that unifies the journey. The radio serves as an endless source of personal information and mass education. This information echoes in the desert, from the work in the salt mine and throughout the small towns.

Communicating Communitas