Four New Videos from the Chiapas Media Project

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>Reply-To: <cmp at chiapasmediaproject.org>
>From: "Chiapas Media Project" <cmp at chiapasmediaproject.org>
>To: <cmp at chiapasmediaproject.org>
>Subject: FOUR NEW VIDEOS FROM CHIAPAS
>Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 10:56:22 -0600
>
>FOUR NEW VIDEOS FROM CHIAPAS
>
>The Chiapas Media Project announces four new videos produced by Indigenous
>videomakers from Chiapas.  The Chiapas Media Project is a bi-national
>organization that provides video and computer equipment and training to
>marginalized indigenous communities in Southern Mexico.  The following
>videos have been screened recently at the Smithsonian Native American Film
>and Video Festival, the Vermont International Film Festival, the American
>Museum of Natural History and the Sundance Film Festival.
>
>Please send orders to:
>Chiapas Media Project
>4834 N. Springfield
>Chicago, IL  60625
>
>** Orders cannot be processed without payment.  Make checks payable to the
>Chiapas Media Project.  Please include $4 shipping for the first tape and $1
>for each additional tape.
>
>
>
>The Strength of the Indigenous People of Mut Vitz: Producing Fair Trade
>Organic Coffee in the Highlands of Chiapas
>(Tzotzil and Spanish, w/ English subtitles, 27:05 min.)
>
>Begun in 1996, the Mut Vitz organic coffee cooperative currently has more
>than 1,000 members. The video was shot and edited by members of the
>collective.  Over a year in the making, Mut Vitz shows 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
>in processing their coffee for market, and Mut Vitz’ achievements using a
>fair trade model of distribution.
>
>Individual: $25  Universities/Institutions: $80
>
>
>
>Defending the Forests: The Struggle of the Campesino Environmentalists of
>Guerrero  (Spanish w/ English Subtitles, 18:10 min.)
>
>The deforestation of Guerrero’s Petatlán and Coyuca de Catalán mountain
>ranges dates back to the 1950’s. In the 1970’s, under then governor Ruben
>Figueroa Figueroa, logging increased accompanied by militarization and
>repression of Guerrero’s rural communities. In 1994, with the signing of
>NAFTA, the  Boise Cascade Corporation began the exploitation of thousands of
>kilometers of virgin forests, leaving a wasteland in its wake.  After 50
>years of uncontrolled logging the soil is now infertile, water is scarce and
>many species of plants and wildlife have disappeared.  Defending the
>Forests, is the story of the Organization of the Campesino Environmentalists
>(O.C.E.) created in 1996, and their success in halting Boise Cascade’s
>exploitation of their forests. Through powerful interviews with the members
>of the O.C.E., the video documents the Mexican government’s campaign to
>destroy the O.C.E., and the arrest and torture by the Mexican military of
>O.C.E. co-founders Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera. In 1999, Rodolfo
>Montiel was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. In August
>2000, Rudolfo and Teodoro were sentenced to prison terms of seven and 10
>years.
>
>Individual: $20  Universities/Institutions: $70
>
>
>
>The Sacred Land, (Tzeltal and Spanish with English sub-titles, 18:36 min.)
>
>For more then 500 years indigenous people in Chiapas have been struggling to
>regain ownership of their lands.  Until the Zapatista uprising in 1994, most
>indigenous people survived 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”. Produced
>in the autonomous municipality of “November 17th”, The Sacred Land provides
>a context for the events of 1994 through unique insight into the past.
>Community members reflect on how life has changed since 1994 and express
>their hopes and dreams for their collective future.
>
>Individual: $20  Universities/Institutions: $70
>
>
>
>Education in Resistance, (Tzeltal and Spanish with English sub-titles, 21:03
>min.)
>
>The Mexican Constitution mandates 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, and why they decided to create an autonomous
>educational system.  Elders describe their experiences in government
>schools, where they had to pay to attend and often experienced physical and
>psychological abuse.  Education promoters in the autonomous system speak
>about their desire to teach in their communities, the importance of teaching
>bi-lingual classes, and how military presence affects daily life.  Parents
>express their hopes and dreams for their new educational system.
>
>Individual: $20  Universities/Institutional: $70