Latin American Environmental Media Festival - April 15-17
The Stone Center of Latin American Studies at Tulane University announces the inauguration of a project that will establish a new Latin American Environmental Media Festival in New Orleans to open in April 2005. This four-day event will bring to audiences films, videos, and innovative works in digital media whose subjects bring critical attention to major environmental challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean. This new festival, which will be held on the Tulane University campus and at venues in the city, will screen a curated, non-competitive series of innovative works and a new productions submitted as part of a juried competition. A distinguished jury will award prizes in four categories at the opening of the festival in April. This new initiative is being developed with assistance from the New Orleans Film Festival. For more information, please visit <http://stonecenter.tulane.edu/EFF/>
posted by Erica Roggeveen @ 3:06 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
On April 17, 2005 I attended the Peoople Portion of the Latin America Environmental Media Festival presented by Tulane's LARC program. I watched David Springbett's The Man We Called Juan Carlos and Miranda Smith's The Shaman's Apprentice.
The Man We Called Juan Carlos was about the Mayan Indiginous people learning how to support themselves and the political repercussions they received because of their ability to survive and thrive. Wenceslao Armira, known as Juan Carlos to protect himself, started as a farmer, became a teacher, and later a fighter, in order to help his people gain control of their own future. The Mayan Indians were lacking opportunities early on. They could not read, did not own much land, and did not know how to properly cultivate the land they did own. As they began to learn how to support themselves the government suspected them of communist activity and they came under attack. In Feb. 1976 an earthquake hit Guatemala and ruined all of the Mayan Indian progress. However, instead of letting the earthquake be the end of their survival they rebuilt their community to better standards than they previously were. It wasn't until 1995 that peace was declared and in 1999 President Clinton made a formal apology to the people because at the time the U.S. was aiding their people while also helping train the military that was ruining all of their villages and killing their people.
The Shaman's Apprentice was about a man named Mark Plotkin going to live with a Shaman in the Amazon rainforrest to learn their secrets that the Western world had no idea about. Unfortunately, as the world is being technologically driven, the importance of medicine healers is being forgotten. Plotkin created a Shaman's apprentice organization that helps to teach future generations how to learn the secrets of their older ancestors.
What I found so fascinating about the Juan Carlos film was the amount one man would take on to help save his people. I was surprised the Carlos went back when his village was in danger and he was safe teaching elsewhere. He was a true leader and community activist who cared dearly about his people. From the Shaman's Apprentice I was shocked at how quickly the Amazon rainforrest is being destroyed, and how many tribes and villages are becoming extinct in the process.
In terms of a lesson for an English class, I would love to show the two films (The Shaman one would be greate because the man in the film is from New Orleans) and have students write a compare contrast paper, first using a venn diagram to compare the films. Both films deal with what is lost in the face of progress, and how many smaller minorities are not heard from when lands are destroyed and people are homeless. I think this would be a great activity to teach diversity as well as compare and contrast writing skills.
I attended the same film showing as Brook Parker did (see above comment). I watched David Spingbett's The Man We Called Juan Carlos and Miranda Smith's The Shaman's Apprentice.
An organization called World Neighbors went into Guatemala to give a "hand up" to the people there (not a "hand out"). They worked with the poorer people, helping them with agricultural ideas and other aspects of life. Juan Carlos was a local Mayan who learned many skills from World Neighbor. He began to teach his peers and neighbors what he had learned. He was known as a great teacher and agricultural advisor across the country and throughout the world. People came from outside the country to be taught by Juan Carlos.
One of the things I admire about him is that he stayed with his people, even in hard times. When the Guatemalan political battles began to brew, he was offered a well-paying job outside the country because he was such an influential leader. He chose to stay in Guatemala during the hard time.
Unfortunately, there were bad times in his life too. He eventually joined the guerillas after being threatened by many. This did not cost him his life, but the lives of his too children and his marriage. Still, he lived through it all and remained a great figure and teacher.
The second movie described the wealth of information found in the shamans (Amazon medicine men) regarding medicine in plants. A Harvard students went to Brazil to study with the shaman and learn their ways. The shamans are dying and the trade is not being passed on to other generations. This man taught the shaman the importance of passing on their knowledge and organized apprenticeships within tribes so the valuable information would not be lost.
One fact told in the story really caught my attention. People ahd located a tree in the Amazon that instantly killed strands of the HIV virus when tested in the lab. When scientists went back to find the tree, the spot was empty. It had been cut down, and there were no more to be found. This really grabbed me. We are depleting so many valuable resources and species by destroying the rainforests. It is a serious issue that is so often ignored.
It would be difficult to transmit these two movies into the elementary classroom, especially the first. It would be possible to talk about the medicine men in young classrooms. Teachers could also describe where different medicines come from. Also, one science experiment could include allowing bread to mold to explain how penicillin is attained. This would be ideal since most children are familiar with this drug (given for ear infections and other ailments).
reply to both posts:
Great job, both of you. I can see the films being translated into lessons in two ways. First, students could talk or write about inspirational people in their own lives, or who come from their culture. Second, they could discuss the importance of conservation and concrete steps that could be taken to help the environment.
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