Events on this week...

Live theatrical performance from Brazil

On Thursday 17 September NICAI has the pleasure of hosting a group of performing artists from Brazil. Staff and students from across the University are invited to attend this free performance.

Come to the plaza under the tree in front of the NICAI Student Information Centre, Level 2, 26 Symonds Street - (inside the centre if raining) from 12.45-2pm on 17 September.

2-week break!

Queridos LAIFSers,

just sharing some basic information from last Wednesday's meeting:

1- we've decided to take a 2-week break. So please spread the word: there are no movies this week or the next one! :(

2- We'll start a new month (and a new theme Art & Music!!! Eba!) Wednesday 16/09!

3- Needless to say, we haven't decided yet which movies we'll be screening. So please send your suggestions!

4- We also are trying to expand our geo-cinematographic horizons and, for the first time ever, have a non-Brazilian, non-Colombian, non-Argentinian, non-Bolivian, Non-Chilean month! So, if possible, send movies from one of the 16 other Latin American countries. (Aline's research on the AV library could be very useful)

This week (26 August) LAIFS is proud to present:

76-89-03 (2000)Directors: Cristian Bernard & Flavio NardiniArgentina.
The first Argentinian movie without a message...
Dino, Salvador and Paco have been longing to spend a Night with top actress Wanda Manera. The opportunity comes to them when they find a bag full with cocaine during failed Paco's bachelor party. The plan of selling the drug to pay for Wanda will lead them through Buenos Aires' underground and a series of odd characters. 3 friends with very different and stereotyped personalities, a classic Torino car, the underground world, sex. Great movie with lots of funny situations. Totally different from regular "committed" Argentinian movie. Although almost none of the actors are know for general audience, the performances are extraordinary. A good description of the Argentine way (IMDb.com)
Ispace, Wednesday, 26 Aug. 6pm
Level 4, Kate Edger Information Commons, 2 Alfred St.
Sessions strictly limited to UoA staff and students

The Latin Pacific: Latin American Music at the Three Corners of the Polynesian Triangle

New Zealand Centre for Latin American Studies (NZCLAS)
and Latin American and Iberian Film Society (LAIFS)

present

The Latin Pacific: Latin American Music at the Three Corners of the Polynesian Triangle

Thursday August 27, 6-8pm
ARTS 1, Room 616
Followed by discussion, drinks and nibbles

Dr Dan Bendrups
Department of Music
University of Otago

The contemporary Pacific reflects diverse processes of cultural crossover and hybridity. In music, it is often the case that island cultures have developed in conjunction with cultural influences brought by a specific colonial or neo-colonial power, and discourses of music and identity often reflect the enduring relationship between colonist and colonised. While many Latin American nations occupy a place on the Pacific Rim, Latin America played only a small role in the colonisation of the Pacific, represented by the neo-colonial Chilean possession of Easter Island since 1888. Nevertheless, Latin American musical influence can be found throughout the Pacific, making an important if obscure contribution to local music cultures.

This presentation provides an overview of three examples of Latin American musical influence in the Pacific, drawing on case studies from the three points of the Polynesian triangle: Rapanui, Hawai‘i and Aotearoa. As the only Latin American territorial possession in Polynesia, Rapanui presents a unique history of local adaptation of Chilean musical influences, reflected in both traditional and contemporary music repertoires. In contrast, Hawai‘i historically received waves of migration from Mexico and Puerto Rico, and these migrants forged a musical community within the wider scope of Hawaiian performance cultures. Their cultural presence has been reinforced through the arrival of new migrants, and by the integration of Hawai‘i into mainstream America where Latin music and cultural influences are abundant. Like Hawai‘i Aotearoa has a long association with American mass culture, and Latin influences have a long history within jazz and popular music repertoires. However, it is only recently that Aotearoa has begun to receive substantial migration from Latin America – especially Brazil – and these new migrants have made immediate impact in live music, especially through their collaborations with Māori and Pasifika musicians in ‘world music’ contexts. These diverse processes of musical migration and adaptation provide an entry point to understanding the little-researched area of cultural exchange between Latin America and the Pacific, reflecting both historical antecedents and innovations in contemporary performance culture.

Post-Trauma - This Week (19th August)

Previous Films for Post-Trauma Month at LAIFS

Pertinent seminar for Trauma/Post-trauma month

DEPARTMENT OF FILM TELEVISION AND MEDIA STUDIES SEMINAR SERIES SEMESTER TWO 2009

THURSDAY 13th August, 4.15 PMROOM 501, PATRICK HANAN ROOM, LEVEL 5, ARTS 2 BUILDING

Dr. Allan Cameron (Australian Film, Television and Radio School):History in Real Time: National Trauma and Narrative Synchrony in United 93 and Out of the Blue.

This paper explores the use of 'real-time' narrative aesthetics to represent historical events in two recent films: United 93 (Paul Greengrass, US, 2006) and Out of the Blue (Robert Sarkies, New Zealand, 2006). Both of these films recount stories of collective and national trauma (a terrorist attack and a mass murder, respectively) that originally unfolded on live television. Through parallel, multi-stranded storylines, these films attempt not only to recapture television's real-time narrative effect but also to exceed it by striving for a type of narrational and stylistic 'innocence' that marks the events depicted as pre-televisual.

Drawing upon Paul Ricoeur's notion that historical narrative effects a 'fusion of horizons' between past and present, and Mary Ann Doane's linking of contingency, catastrophe and the liveness of television, this paper will argue that these 'real time' narratives of national trauma enact a fraught negotiation between televisual and cinematic modes of narration, exposing the technological underpinnings of narrative. Ultimately, United 93 and Out of the Blue explore the notion that gaps in historical knowledge are also in effect failures of technology. The foreshortened time frames of these films point towards a radically truncated and tenuous fusion of horizons, in which national identity appears on the one hand as absolute but on the other, paradoxically, as contingent upon just-in-time technological interventions.

ALLAN CAMERON is a Researcher and Lecturer at the Australian Film Television and Radio School, and Honorary Fellow in Screen Studies at the University of Melbourne. He is author of Modular Narratives in Contemporary Cinema (Palgrave Macmillan 2008)

PLEASE JOIN US FOR A DRINK AFTER THE SEMINAR.

EL DIA DEL AMIGO!!

El 20 de Julio es..... El Dia del Amigo!

Entonces vamos a juntar de las 6 de la noche en Fordes Bar.... a celebrar los amigos de la LAIFS

Todos seran bienvenidos!!

The 20th July is.... Friends Day!

So lets get together from 6pm at Fordes Bar... to celebrate LAIFS' friends.

All are welcome!!

Lo que viene...(Coming up!)

"Maquilapolis"

Wed 15/07 - iSpace

6pm

"Apaga y vámonos"

Wed 22/07 - iSpace

6pm

An Interdisciplinary Symposium on Latin America

Cities, Memories and the Challenges of the Future

July 17th 2009
Venue: School of Architecture & Planning
Room 619, Level 6 Architecture Building

Free admission

PROGRAMME

9:00 Opening. Dr Walescka Pino-Ojeda, Director NZCLAS.

ARCHITECTURE

9:05 Professor Roberto Segre, introduced by Associate Prof. Sarah Treadwell, Head, School of Architecture & Planning (The University of Auckland)

9:10-9:50 Professor Roberto Segre (Federal Univ. of Rio de Janeiro; Doctor Honoris Causa School of Architecture ISPJAE, Havana, Cuba)
Havana: A City as a Museum: Historical Relationship between Art, Architecture and Urbanism

9:55-10:15 Assoc. Prof. Diane Brand (Victoria University of Wellington)
The Ceremonial Appropriation of City and Sea in Rio de Janeiro 1808-1822

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

10:20-10:40 Assoc. Prof. Roberto González-Casanovas (The University of Auckland)
Mediating Cultural Hybrids in Early-Colonial Caribbean and Brazil

MORNING TEA 10:40-11:00

11:00-11:20 Assoc. Prof. Warwick Murray (Victoria University of Wellington)
Globalization, Poverty and Inequality - Miracles of Intervention in Chile

11:25-11:45 Dr Walescka Pino-Ojeda (The University of Auckland)
Forensic Memory, Responsibility and Judgment: The Chilean Documentary in the Post-Authoritarian Era

11:50-12:10 Dr Antonio Díaz-Andrade (AUT Auckland University of Technology)
Accessing and Distributing Computer-Mediated Information in the Rural Andes

12:10-12:30 Dr Kathryn Lehman (The University of Auckland)
The Language of Law and Land in Indigenous Movements for Decolonisation

LUNCH 12:30-13:30pm

13:30-13:50 Dr Dan Bendrups (Otago University)
Music, Media and Migration: Latin America in Pacific Context

13:55 – 14:15 Dr Taciano L Milfont (Victoria University of Wellington)
Making Sense of Brazil: Lessons from Cross-cultural Psychology

14:20– 14:40 Dr Maria Rublee (The University of Auckland)
Brazil and Global Nuclear Disarmament: Challenges and Opportunities

14:45-15:05 Genaro Oliveira (PhD Student Art History, The University of Auckland)
Historians, Artists and the Invention of Brazilian History in the Nineteenth Century.

15:10-16:00 Prof. Roberto Segre
Formal and Informal City in Rio de Janeiro: A New Integration. Interventions in “favelas” Poor Settlements

WINE AND NIBBLES: 16:00-17:00

17:15 – 18:30 Public Recital: Latin American Duet
Voice: Alda Rezende and Piano: Jonathan Crayford
School of Music, Free Entry.

Singer and songwriter Alda Rezende has been a resident in New Zealand since 2004. Alda has released three albums in Brazil and has performed alongside major artists such as Elza Soares and Joao Bosco.
Her vocal work is known by the originality of her voice and the quality of her repertoire, which is both unexpected and tasteful.
In New Zealand Alda participated in the project OE Brazil in 2007, released the album Traveller, produced a project that brought three Brazilian musicians for a tour in 2008, and has performed in several national festivals.
Currently she is a member of the bands Zirigidum and Roda de samba. Alda is also a radio host in Radio Active, produces slots on Brazilian Music for Concert Radio, and gives lectures on the history of Brazilian Popular Music.
Presently Alda is one of the organizers of “Live Brazil”, the first festival of Brazilian arts and culture in Aotearoa.
http://www.jonathancrayford.com/jc/html/jcbio.html

Humor Argentino - Radio (no subtitles)

Este es un fragmento de un programa de radio, en una de las radios más populares de Argentina (Rock and Pop), el humorista es Diego Capusotto, y si bien el post tiene un video, lo importante es el audio, el video fue armado por un usuario.

Este es un fiel reflejo del humor abusurdo y, a la vez, ácido que la Argentina tiene actualmente.

Es muy local y muy actual en materia socio-política.

Para darles una breve introducción a quienes no están en tema:

- La hora: Anecdoticamente, el gobierno dispuso un cambio de horario para ahorrar energía. Gobernadores opositores decidieron no cambiar, por ende tenemos en algunas provincias una hora y en otras una hora de diferencia.

- Piquete: Corte de ruta/calle/avenida por un grupo de personas.

- Piquetero: Suele relacionarse directamente con grupos organizados, como partidos políticos, provenientes de clases marginales, y que están en la realidad cotidiana de la Argentina. Estos grupos marginales son basicamente los llamados "villeros", gente muy pobre, de la que podemos trazar un paralelismo a los habitantes de las favelas en Brasil. Suelen reclamar por trabajo, comida, salud, etc. Aunque, Argentina, "país generoso", tiene piqueteros oficialistas...no son, ni más ni menos, piqueteros que apoyan al gobierno cortando la ruta...el mismo gobierno que no les da trabajo, ni salud, ni educación. Alicia en el país de las Maravillas encontraría más coherencia...

- Kirchner: Actual presidenta (el marido lo fue antes y ahora...es primer "damo" (antes era presidente, ahora su única ocupación es el choreo (lunfardo de hurto)). Ambos son Ex Montoneros.

- Montoneros: Un grupo de corriente Peronista en la década del '70 que estaba en contra del gobierno militar y se caracterizaba, como la ETA en España, por poner bombas. Anécdota: Ellos se consideraban la franja más fuerte y representativa Peronista, pero cuando Perón vuelve al poder en la década del 70 rompe relación con este grupo llamándolos "estúpidos e imberbes" en pleno acto en Plaza de Mayo ocasionando, obviamente, la retirada de la organización en dicho acto.

- 6 a 1 con Bolivia...lamentable reciente suceso en el que la selección Argentina de fútbol perdió contra nuestros hermanos Bolivianos por...sí, 6 a 1!

- Pensamiento totalitario: Seguimos teniendo, como sucede también en Chile con Pinochet, y en tantos otros países, gente que apoya abiertamente este tipo de ideología. Lo peor, es que tenemos periodistas de ultraderecha en TV que dejan ver su lado fascista sin demasiado pudor.

El formato de este segmento del programa es el del clásico noticiero matutino en Argentina (es bastante cliché, no es que sea una novedad), donde se pasa del clima al estado del tránsito. Y, en los programas en serio, hay reportes de piquetes en la ciudad de Buenos Aires, ya que, los Piqueteros, como decía, son organizaciones y la protesta tiene hora y lugar programada...sí, tenemos una agenda de protestas que el gobierno tiene a disposición y los noticieron informan día a día.

Más allá de que les cause gracia o no, creo que sirve como un buen ejemplo de la idiosincracia Argentina vista a través de un humorista que llega a todos los estratos sociales sin escalas.

Latin American and Iberian Films on NZIFF 09

Dear Latin American & Iberian film enthusiasts, below is a detailed list with all the films that are going to be shown during NZ's international film festival.

Brazil
Embodiment of Evil (Encarnação do demônio)




By Jose Mojica Marins (Zé do Caixão)

Screenings:
11 Jul | 10:15pm
SKYCITY Cinemas Queen Street
17 Jul | 11:30pm
SKYCITY Cinemas Queen Street
21 Jul | 4:15pm
SKYCITY Cinemas Queen Street

Chile
La Nana (The Maid)
I couldn't find a trailer for this film but here is the festival's info: The Maid

by Sebastian Silva

Screenings:
Wed 22 Jul | 1:00pm
SKYCITY Theatre
Fri 24 Jul | 6:15pm
SKYCITY Theatre

Mexico
Sin Nombre


I don't want to be biased but this movie seems wicked.

by Cary Joji Fukunaga

Screenings:
Sun 12 Jul | 8:30pm |
Academy Cinema
Tue 14 Jul | 2:15pm |
SKYCITY Theatre
Sat 18 Jul | 8:45pm |
SKYCITY Theatre
Wed 22 Jul | 6:15pm |
The Bridgeway Cinema |

Portugal

Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl (Singularidades de uma rapariga loura)

by Manoel de Oliveira

Screenings:
Thu 23 Jul | 4:45pm |
Academy Cinema
Fri 24 Jul | 6:15pm |
Academy Cinema
Sat 25 Jul | 1:45pm |
Academy Cinema

Our Beloved Month of August (Aquele querido mês de agosto)

By Miguel Gomes

Screenings:
Sat 11 Jul | 2:15pm |
SKYCITY Cinemas Queen Street
Sun 12 Jul | 5:15pm |
SKYCITY Cinemas Queen Street

Spain

Birdsong (El Cant dels Ocells)


By Albert Serra

Screenings:
Fri 17 Jul | 12:45pm |
SKYCITY Cinemas Queen Street
Sat 18 Jul | 1:00pm |
SKYCITY Cinemas Queen Street

Broken Embraces (Los Abrazos Rotos)

by Pedro Almodovar

Screenings:
Fri 24 Jul | 10:45am |
Civic Theatre
Sat 25 Jul | 8:30pm |
Civic Theatre

Camino

By Javier Fesser

Screenings:
Tue 21 Jul | 8:30pm |
Civic Theatre
Thu 23 Jul | 10:30am |
Civic Theatre

Films from other countries but with a Latin American and Iberian theme.

Usa

Che

By Steven Soderbergh

Screenings:
Thu 16 Jul | 1:00pm |
Civic Theatre
Sat 18 Jul | 12:45pm |
Civic Theatre

Italy

Birdwatchers

By Marco Bechis

Screenings:
Fri 10 Jul | 6:15pm |
Lido Cinema
Sun 12 Jul | 10:30am |
Civic Theatre
Wed 15 Jul | 6:30pm |
SKYCITY Theatre |

Arraia do LAIFS

Almodovar's movie, 24/06!

Bases para la nueva revolución - Cocalero

[Go to English version]

Por LVC

Unión, integración, trabajo, paciencia, educación, perseverancia, paz.

Son quizá algunos de los pilares para una revolución desde el seno de los pueblos. Donde, en vez de revueltas aisladas y egoístas, se entiendan las partes como la conformación de un todo. Con la caída de las últimas dictaduras en Latinoamérica, la sociedad de estos últimos 15-20 años empieza a entender otros caminos hacia el cambio. La democracia es uno de ellos. Más allá de las tantas falencias, fraudes e inclusive episodios violentos, ejemplos como el de Evo Morales o Lula, pueden atribuirse a una búsqueda de un progreso popular por medios pacíficos: el voto.

La sensación que me provocó Evo Morales como candidato y luego como presidente fue el de encontrarme no con que un hombre ascendía al poder, sino un pueblo. Que ejercía la función de representante de aquellas masas que habían depositado su voto en él y, a su vez, de las diferentes opiniones, muchas veces encontradas, entre los grupos de distintas características, sean étnicas o económicas. Podríamos llamar esto una REAL Democracia. Hubo una integración al involucrar a los pueblos indígenas en un sistema gubernamental blanco (por llamarlo de alguna manera) y ejercer, como ciudadanos “reconocidos”, su derecho electoral. La educación fue un papel fundamental, con algo tan simple como enseñar a votar, a distinguir apenas entre diferentes colores para ejecutar el voto correctamente, abre las puertas a mucha gente a expresar de su voluntad. El voto, para aquellas poblaciones indígenas, fue un paradigma discriminatorio si nos ponemos a pensar que nadie les había dado la oportunidad de incluirlos en el sistema que se les había sido impuesto.

Todas las características mencionadas al principio se complementan unas a otras siendo un todo. La perseverancia, como el caso de Lula también, más de 10 años de lucha, da su fruto recién hoy. Pero quién podría apostar, en esta cultura tan comercial y ansiosa, en un plan a tan largo plazo? Cuantos de nosotros, de sólo pensarlo, daríamos por fracasado todo intento ante tantas adversidades que el sistema mismo nos presenta. Aún así, son estos giros históricos, estos sucesos casi inesperados, los que nos tienen que hacer tomar consciencia de que la lucha se empieza desde abajo y con paciencia. Que sin la unión, no hay fuerza; que un líder es gracias a quienes lo reconocen como tal; que cada uno de nosotros, como actores individuales, somos MAS que importantes en el proceso de cambio. O acaso alguien podía llegar a pensar que aquella anciana indígena que, sin saber leer ni escribir, sería relevante para la historia de su país? Pero lo fue su voto, ese pequeño aporte, el hacedor, junto con los otros millones de personas, de que Evo Morales hoy fuese presidente. Ese acto - ‘menor’ a los ojos de muchos de nosotros, que somos consecuencia de una cultura de Super Stars y líderes que se desprenden de las masas para ser ‘ellos’ y no ‘nosotros’ - provocó que en el posterior referéndum vuelva a darle la victoria a Evo Morales por cifras insospechadas.

Es entonces que el nuevo Gobierno debe estar dirigido desde el pueblo, donde cada hecho cotidiano es un aporte, empezando por la conciliación de las diferentes opiniones y no creer nuestra verdad como única, bajo un contexto de diálogo, no de violencia. En Bolivia hay blancos, mestizos e indígenas, con tantas opiniones como razas y pueblos dentro de cada raza. El Gobierno debe ser un Gobierno de todos, por todos y para todos sin distinción alguna. Pero, principalmente, el Gobierno debe empezar y terminar en nosotros como un ejercicio diario en la convivencia con nuestros semejantes. Las bases las construimos entre todos.

Por eso rescato esa última parte del documental donde, considero, se volcó una síntesis muy potente: Veíamos a un grupo de costureros y modistas trabajando juntos para hacer el traje que llevaría su presidente, pero la imagen final no mostró al presidente sino un maniquí vacío, con el traje terminado y ese grupo rodeándolo. Porque en ese traje cabían todos, porque fueron ellos lo que lo hicieron posible, más allá del nombre de una sola persona.

---------------------------------------------

Basis for the new revolution - Cocalero

By LVC. Edited by Julio Panoff

Union, integration, work, patience, education, perseverance, peace.

Those are, may be, some of the main characteristics for a revolution coming from the deep of the people. Where instead of isolated and selfish strikes have the different groups as parts of a whole society. After the last dictatorships in Latin America, people starts to believe in other ways of change and democracy is one of them. Beside the failures, the cheats and also the violent facts, examples as Evo Morales or Lula, can be sight as a search of popular progress by pacific ways: the vote.

The feeling I had when I saw Evo Morales as a candidate and then as a President was of looking not at a man who goes to the power but the people. That he was representing those mass of people who had been voting him and also, of different opinions, many that do not match to each other, between groups of different ethnic and economics characteristics. We can say that this is a REAL Democracy. There was integration by taking the indigenes people into the “white” governmental system and making them what is their right as a “recognized” citizens. Education was very important with something as simple as teaching the people how to vote, just telling them something obvious for us like distingue among different colors make the possibility for those people to express their will. Voting was a discriminatory paradigm for those indigenes peoples if we think that nobody gave them the opportunity of being included in the system that was imposed to them.

All the characteristics mentioned above are complemented to each other making a whole way. Perseverance, like the case of Lula in Brazil, more than 10 years fighting just today he can see the result. But who can make a bet in this culture of anxious commerce in such long term plan? How many of us just give up before thinking of doing something because of the many obstacles that this system put in front of us. There historic breakpoints must be considered as a reflex of the fight begins from the people and with patience. Without union, there is no strength; that a leader is because there is people behind him recognizing as him as the one; and each one as individual actors organized in a cooperative way, we are really important in the chance process. Who could imagine that that old indigene woman without knowing how to read or write could be so important for her country history? But was her vote joined with other million ones that made Evo Morales became a president. That act sight as a minor act thru our eyes, victims of Super Star system and leaders who go apart of the people being ‘Them’ and not ‘Us’, made in the posterior referendum that Evo Morales again wins with non suspected rates.

So the new Government must be steered from the people, where each quotidian act were supplying the process of change, starting with the recognition many truths not only ours, under a dialogue context, without violence. In Bolivia there is white, indigenes, mestizos, with as many truths as races and people inside those races. The Government must be of all of them, for all of them and by all of them. But, principally, the Government must start and end as a routine exercise in the coexistence with our fellow men. The basis is made among all of us.

I take the last part of the documentary as a very symbolic synthesis: We can see the group of people working on the Evo Morales’ suite, but the final image doesn’t show Evo but an empty mannequin wearing his suite and the group around it. That’s because in that suite fits everyone, they made possible that suite with the union, integration, work, perseverance, education and, above all peace that made the people could get the power beyond only one person’s name.

In case anyone's interested...

Just forwarding this on:

CLUBS BALL

Hey Folks, As you may know, last year was our first attempt of the CLUB BALL and this year we want to make it BIGGER and BETTER... and we also want to make it an opportunity for your club to Fundraise, so please read below for all the details:

WHEN: August 15th
WHERE: Auckland Museum
TIME: 7.30pm - 1am
THEME: WINTER WONDERLAND

PRICE: (This is where you get to Fundraise) $65- This however means that EACH ticket sold, your club will receive $10 of this. So the more ticket sales your members buy, the more money your club will make.

ALL tickets will be sold from AUSA Student Central and AUSA House (4 Alfred st). Once all tickets have been sold, you will receive your clubs money that you have fundraised (eg. Monday after the event). Please note that there will be NO DOOR SALES.

WHAT THIS GETS ME: The $65 ticket gets each person food for the evening, and all you can drink.

With special Feature: TIM PHIN...DJing that night..


Tickets go on sale - 21st of July.

movie 17/06!

This week's movie!

Short film about community resistance to Pascual Lama gold mine (Province of Huasco, Atacama, Chile)

Amigos, amigas, comunicadores todos:

Adjuntamos un link de un video que ponemos a disposición para invitar(nos) a la 6ta Marcha por la Vida y el Agua, contra Pascua Lama, el Saqueo y la Contaminación.

Lo ponemos a disposición de medios de comunicación, TV, Radios, Prensa, Blogs, o para dar pantallazos en algún espacio como en universidades, sindicatos, casas culturales, etc.

Donde quieran, 9 minutos, es posible de ver. Contiene datos concretos, imágenes hermosas del valle del Huasco, historias dolorosas de estos casi 10 años de resistencia comunitaria, información de la cercanía de Barrick con el Gobierno, y por supuesto, la gente que nos ha llamado a sumarse a esta defensa trascendental por la vida, por el agua, por lo más escencial, la tierra y el agua limpias.

Barrick pone en peligro a más de 70 mil personas de todo el valle del Huasco, en la Región de Atacama, desde el año 2000 cuando presentó su proyecto a la institucionalidad ambiental. Hasta hoy, pese a toda una tremenda estrategia comunicacional y social, no ha podido iniciar la construcción de Pascua Lama, su proyecto estrella a nivel mundial. Esto solo ha sido posible por la gente de Alto del Carmen, de Vallenar, Freirina y Huasco, en la provincia de Huasco, Atacama, pero también a todos los que han difundido este conflicto que día a día nos permite volver a nuestras raíces ancestrales y pensar en el futuro que queremos para nuestros hijos e hijas.

Difunda. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bunTv-k8EE

PD: Si desean el DVD original, podemos hacer un envío por pagar... o si es de Stgo, nos coordinamos.

Equipo Semillas de Agua

And now in English (my translation -Sarah)

Friends:

We are posting a link to a video that we make available for the sixth March for Water and Life against Pascual Lama [gold mine], pillaging and environmental destruction.

We want to disseminate this material to the media, TV, radio, press, blogs, or get some airtime in universities, unions, cultural centres, etc.

With nine minutes to spare, you can watch this video. It contains concrete facts, beautiful footage of the Valley of Huasco as well as the painful history of nearly ten years of community resistance, information about the close ties Barrick has with the Chilean government, and, of course, the people who have called us to come together in this important struggle for life, for water, for the most essential conditions for life: clean land and water.

Since 2000 when it presented its project to environmental insitiutions, Barrik [Gold Corporation] has put in jeopardy the lives of the more than 70 million inhabitants of the Valley of Huasco, in the Atacama region. Through to the present day, it has not been able to put its plans for the construction of Pascual Lama, its star project internationally, into effect despite tremendous social and communicational strategies. This has been possible thanks to the efforts of the people of Alto del Carmen, Vallenar, Freirina and Huasco, in the province of Huasco, Atacama, but also because of the efforts of those who have spread the word about this conflict that helps us day after day to return to our ancentral roots and to think about the future we want for our children.

Please spread the word: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bunTv-k8EE

P.S.: If you would like the original DVD, we can arrange to send it to you plus the price of postage, or if you live in Santiago we could arange to give it to you personally.

The Semillas de Agua team

Cocalero Week Part 1: Racism

Dear Laifers I hope this paper to be an extension of the screening of Cocalero and an attempt to highlight some of the points, which I believe, make Evo Morales's presidency significant, not only for indigenous Bolivians but to all Bolivians. I will divide this paper in three sections: Racism, Slavery and Solutions for a New Bolivia. I will post each section separately allowing for them to be unique documents and hoping that a shorter version of the paper will be easier for the reader to follow.

This will also buy me some time since I've promised many people that I will have something posted here soon. Is just that this paper is taking me longer than I expected to complete and is turning out to be quite long.

I also encourage you to point out any discrepancies and/or things that you find unclear or difficult to understand and maybe add bits that you think I missed in the hopes of updating an improved and full version of it.

Cocalero Week

Part 1: Racism

What has doomed our country is the continuous aspirations to become a modern western society. Ignoring our ancient indigenous laws and labelling them as backwards.

Introduction

Simon Bolivar is often seen as a hero throughout Latin America, including Bolivia whose name honours him: Bolivar=Bolivia. He is the 'father' of many nations, the freedom fighter who has freed us from the Spanish colonial tyranny. But I struggle to view him as such, if we think a bit deeper than that all he has done, at least for Bolivia, was to give our nation away to a much more cruel and frivolous tyrant: the white and mestizo oligarchy. This started from Bolivia's humble beginnings when in 1826 Bolivar's constitution recognises only those who can read and write in Spanish, those with property and those who fought in the battles of independence as Bolivian citizens. Making 90% of people, who lived within the geopolitical borders of Bolivia, nationless. And ever since they've continued, with fervent passion, the work of the Spaniards: to move indigenous history and tradition backwards. They have done so in such a powerful way that today's indigenous people want to distance themselves as far away as possible from their indigeneity and be as European as one can be. This ideology is so intrinsic to our culture that the word indio (indigenous) has become our worst insult.

The struggle for human rights, since the Spanish colonial period, has been a latent aspect of Bolivia's indigenous history. But significant laws that would allow for some rights have not appeared until the 20^th century. Being the constitution of 1938 promulgated by German Busch the first one: the abolition of slavery. But this happened only on paper; because the colonial mindset of our governors of the time would not allow for these laws to be put into practice. The second major move was the indigenous congress of 1945 when President Gualberto Villarroel recognised for the first time the existence of an indigenous political voice. In this congress indigenous people from all over Bolivia marched to La Paz where they would share their problems and discuss the solutions. But only in 1952 we see the three real moves that will attempt to fold Bolivia's history. The first being universal suffrage which makes all of the Bolivian population political citizens; the second was the 'abolition' of slavery with the introduction of an agrarian reform; and lastly a real move towards economic independence with the nationalisation of the mines. Sadly the only true success was the universal suffrage and the other two have been nothing but utopian ideologies that never materialised. Slavery still exists in Bolivia today and we are far from being economically independent.

Racism

We are a racist nation. Because we are raised upon the principle of emulating the west in order to be good; and today, we expect to be called a western nation. How do we achieve this? By distancing ourselves from the 'primitivism' of our indigenous traditions; by accepting, as the righteous way, the west's standards of wealth through individual capitalism, their standards of culture through Hollywood and their standards of beauty through silicone. This western expectation has not only divided and confused our nation but has also killed our self-esteem and our dignity. Hence our worst insult: indio. The consequence of this is that we live our lives without realising that this is what has kept us doomed in constant poverty. Because we have failed to ask ourselves: is this the right way to be?

I hope that my own personal experience would help illustrate what I said above. I went to an elitist school in the Santa Cruz suburban area of Las Palmas. I was thought in English and had 15 classmates. One year, out of those 15 students one was an indigenous person, Fidel, the son of a police coronel. He was infamous for not attending class and one day our teacher cleared our suspicions as to the reason for this constant absence: a struggle to fit in. To which our teacher demanded an effort from us to make him feel more accepted.

Santa Cruz is an interesting city; if you visit some parts of it you would have never guessed that you are in Latin America's poorest country. Some areas have huge marble mansions, country clubs filled with green golf courses, clear olympic pools and huge four wheel drives. But if you adventure yourself to the city's boundaries you will see the reality in which most people live in. Needles for me to describe them to you, you've seen them being exploited by hundreds of NGOs such as World Vision, Children’s' trust and Oxfam...

But a question that you often ask yourself and could never quite answer is why such contrast exists? We live in a feudal nation where a handful of oligarchs, descendants of our colonial lords control Santa Cruz's fertile soil and all its produce. And racism has been one of their most important weapons.

Anyway, back to Fidel and my school. Mario, a classmate and a future oligarch, in a sarcastic tone tells us that he saw Fidel hanging around Pampa de la Isla (one of those poor areas) with some indios. After experiencing such shame how can Fidel ever came back to school? Hence why we've never seen him again.

The Slavery section is coming soon.

Maria, llena eres de gracia (Colombia, 2004)

Wedesday the 3rd of June at 6.00 in Arts 2, Room 519 (Level 5, 18 Symonds St, on the Corner of Symonds St and Grafton Rd). Please come along and bring a dollar membership fee if you wish to join the Society and haven't already. For any questions or inquiries please write to Sarah (sste072@aucklanduni.ac.nz).


This week we will be watching:
Maria Full of Grace [Maria, llena eres de gracia] (USA/Colombia, 2004)

In a small village in Colombia, the pregnant seventeen years old Maria (Catalina Sandino Moreno) supports her family with her salary working in a floriculture. She is fired and with a total lack of perspective of finding a new job, she decides to accept the offer to work as a drug mule, flying to USA with sixty-two pellets of cocaine in her stomach. Once in New York, things do not happen as planned.

Running time 101 minutes
DIRECTOR: Joshua Marston

SITE: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390221/
See you there!

Spanish-English Latinamerican TV

NUEVO PROGRAMMA ESPANOL-INGLES EN TRIANGLE, STRATOS AND SKY TVA PARTIR DEL 12 JUNIO .

Los invitamos a disfrutar este nuevo programa de television llamado LA BUENA VIDA producido por Franklin Silva y su equipo de produccion.

Sera un programa interesante donde se retratara la vida de nuestra comunidad y la contribucion que los Latinoamericanos hacen en este pais.

We invite you to celebrate the Latinamerican community through a new television programe in Triangle, Statos and Sky TV.

THE GOOD LIFE LA BUENA VIDA

The programe will be launched on Friday June 12th at 8pm

programa en espanol-Ingles

LA BUENA VIDA-THE GOOD LIFE

TRIANGLE TV: 12 DE JUNIO 8 PM.....ES UN VIERNES.
STRATOS TV: 12 DE JUNIO 8:30 PM.
SKY TELEVISION 89: 12 DE JUNIO 8:30 PM

Triangle-Stratos-Wellington Television, New Zealand

Something to keep in mind

Hey guys,

Due to copyright reasons, we just want to let you guys know that we have been explicitly warned by the AV Library subject librarian that AV Library films are only to audience's of University of Auckland students. LAIFS is a student group and advertising and spreading of the word is to be done ONLY to University of Auckland students and staff.

Sorry to be such hard arses about this, but they are really cracking down this year. Your enthusiasm is very much appreciated, but please keep this in mind when publicising the group.

Thanks for your cooperation with this.

See you soon,
Sarah, Amy and Fiona

Lucio (27/5/09): Some more info

Latin American and Iberian Film Society (LAIFS) film screening

Wedesday the 27th of May at 6.00 in Arts 2, Room 519 (Level 5, 18 Symonds St, on the Corner of Symonds St and Grafton Rd). Please come along and bring a dollar membership fee if you wish to join the Society and haven't already. For any questions or inquiries please write to Sarah (sste072@aucklanduni.ac.nz).

This week we will be watching:

LUCIO 2007 Spain (Documentary)

Running time 93 minutes

DIRECTORS: Aitor Arregi, José María Goenaga
PRODUCER: Xabier Berzosa

SITE: http://www.lucio.com.es/index_ing.html

Meet Lucio Uturbia — anarchist, bank robber, forger, fugitive, and above all, a bricklayer. Lucio’s life is the stuff of legend.

As an activist in 1950’s Paris, he counted André Breton and Albert Camus amongst his friends, worked with anarchist guerrilla Francisco Sabate to bring down Franco’s fascist regime and carried out numerous bank robberies to fund the struggle to free Spain. In 1977, he successfully forged US$ 20 million dollars of Citibank travellers cheques to fund guerrilla groups in Latin America, bringing the bank to its knees in the process. His motivation was not his own gain, but to dent confidence in this powerful financial institution. Lucio was arrested for this and ended up in prison, but soon got back on his feet.

He also helped organise the kidnapping of Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie from his hideout in Bolivia, aided the escape of Black Panthers from the US and not surprisingly was targeted by the CIA.

The story of how this bricklayer with a skill for forgery brought down powerful institutions without resorting to violence is riveting. His sensibility is pure and enchanting: fight power altruistically without ever aspiring to hold power.

See you there!

This week's movie:

COCALERO

Latin American and Iberian Film Society (LAIFS) film screening Wedesday the 20th of May at 6.00pm, but mate rituals will begin around 5.30 (5.00 if your name is Leandro) in Arts 2, Room 519 (Level 5, 18 Symonds St, on the Corner of Symonds St and Grafton Rd). Please come along and bring a dollar membership fee if you wish to join the Society and haven't already. For any questions or inquiries please write to Sarah (sste072@aucklanduni.ac.nz).

This week we will be watching:

COCALERO 2006 Bolivia (Documentary)

An Aymara Indian coca leaf grower named Evo Morales (a figure Washington has branded a narcoterrorist) travels through the Andes and Amazon in jeans and sneakers, leading a historic bid to become Bolivia’s first indigenous president. The filmmakers capture the intimate moments of Morales’ rise to power.

Running time 94 minutes
DIRECTOR: Alejandro Landes
PRODUCERS: Julia Solomonoff, Alejandro Landes.

SITE: http://cocalerofilm.com/home.sp.php

See you there!
Sarah

This week's movie!

Our Road to El Dorado

Last Wednesday's screening was great. But I must confess, from the beginning of the film I was struggling to keep the water inside my eyes from trickling down my cheeks.

My experience from living in NZ is that people here have a constant feel (even though they try to hide it) of superiority towards people from the developing world. I would go as far as saying that this would be the main reason why NZ wants to remain recognised as a western nation as opposed to a pacific one. "We, the western world have got it right, therefore we must guide you". This feeling I have has been reinforced after I worked for an NGO who's got strict guidelines about the images it wants associated with them. For instance, the film I've made for them won't be promoted because it does not fit into the structure that exploits non-western people's misery. I, jokingly said to my colleague, our film would have been seen by thousands if we showed an African boy, with no shoes and clothing, running around the dessert looking for a drink of water.

El Camino de San Diego deeply shows the adversities which the people of El Dorado have to struggles with on a daily basis, but Dir. Sorin never takes away their dignity and that is why I think this film is so good. It tells the moving story of man's treasure and his enduring journey towards a selfless deed. Our hero (Tati Benitez) will give away his most precious possession to his idol (Diego Armando Maradona) and wont even seek recognition.

And as we follow Tati on his trip to Buenos Aires we subtly learn about Argentina and its economic flaws. For instance, 150,000 Brazilian chickens are entering Argentina by truck; clashing, on a road block, with the local producers. And who wins? The huge Lula-look-alike, Brazilian truck driver.

Anyway, those tears I had at the beginning of the film remained locked inside my eyes, El Camino de San Diego is too funny for anyone to cry. And it subliminally shows what are the treasures that are hidden in the legendary town of El Dorado: its people.

El signatario:
Julio Marx Panoff

This week we will be watching:

El Camino de San Diego (The Road to San Diego) 2006 Argentina (Comedy)

A young Argentine learns that soccer star Diego Maradona is ailing in
a Buenos Aires hospital, and resolves to bring him a tree root he's
discovered.

Running time 98 minutes
DIRECTOR: Carlos Sorin
CAST: Ignacio Benítez, Carlos Wagner
PRODUCERS: Oscar Kramer, Hugo Sigman, Carlos Sorín
AWARDS: San Sebastián International Film Festival 2006, Havana Film
Festival 2006
SITE: http://www.elcaminodesandiego.com/

See you there!

13/05 - El camino de San Diego

May is outlaw month for the Latin American and Iberian Film Society (LAIFS)

It's round the world I've travelled;
it's round the world I've roamed;
but I've yet to see an outlaw drive a family from its home.

-Woody Guthrie

The outlaw in many popular representations is the champion of the people. When the law only seems to favour the rich, the figure outside the law steps in to assert popular rights. In countries where the state has used the law for oppression, the popular hero who takes social justice into his or her own hands becomes increasingly attractive. This month we will be exploring the figure of the outlaw in Latin American and Iberian film and culture. Who are these men and women? What makes them so dangerous? How do they become the obsession of nations?

This week’s screening:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y132/comedyoferrors/poster_may.jpg

Wednesday the 6th of May at 6:00pm (note the change in time) in Arts 2, Room 519 (Level 5, 18 Symonds St, on the Corner of Symonds St and Grafton Rd). Please come along and bring a dollar membership fee if you wish to join the Society if you haven't already. For any questions or inqui- ries please write to Sarah (sste072@aucklanduni.ac.nz).

Lampião - 2006 Brazil (Documentary)

Documentary about the life, death and legacy of Lampião, the most famous leader of the Cangaço band of outlaws who were loved and hated through the Brazilian Northeast in the 1920s and 1930s.

Running time 60 minutes

Hope to see you there!

Sarah