5th Annual American Indian Movement (AIM) International Film Festival
AIM-West is proud to present the 5th Annual American Indian Movement (AIM)
International Film Festival
October 12, 2014 – Arlene Francis Center for Spirit Art & Politics – 99 6th Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Noon-9pm – ONE DAY ONLY – OCTOBER 12
Panelists - $10 all day*
No-one turned away
Promotion Contact: Alcina Horstman 510.508.2547
AIM-West is proud to present the 5th Annual American Indian Movement (AIM) International Film Festival to be at the Arlene Francis Center for Spirit, Art, and Politics, located at 99 6th St, Santa Rosa, CA 95401, on Sunday, October 12th from Noon until 9:00 pm.
Films selected for this festival exemplify the legacy and spiritual movement of resistance, and the fight for self-determination found among Indigenous peoples throughout the globe. Held each year on Indigenous People's Day, the Festival offers an important educational alternative to the stories typically associated with Columbus Day and what it means to Indigenous Peoples throughout the Americas. This years films are listed below. We will be providing a detailed schedule with a list of special guest and show times. Here is a list of the films we plan to screen:
"Seeds of Spirit: The Otomi of Carolina"
Produced/Directed by Elva E. Bishop, Altha J. Cravey, Ciro Arroyo Vicente (30 minutes) 2011. English subtitles. "Seeds of Spirit: The Otomi of Carolina" explores the translocal lives of an indigenous group from San Pablito, a village in highland Puebla, Mexico. The main source of livelihood in the town, is artisanal papermaking. Papel amate was used for creating the ancient Mexican codices. In the last generation, Otomi (who call themselves Hyuhnu) have relocated to Durham, NC and are sending remittances back to supplement earnings from papermaking. We focus on indigenous traditions that mark the cycle of life and the passing of the seasons: Carnaval, a Quinciñera, and Day of the Dead. In addition, Don Alfonso Garcia, a leading curandero of San Pablito, speaks about the role of the seed spirits in his healing work. http://seedspirits.unc.edu/about.html
"2501 Migrants: A Journey"
Produced/Directed by Yolanda Chavez (57 minutes) 2009, English subtitles. "2501 Migrants: A Journey" illustrates the story of 45-year old artist, Alejandro Santiago. Affluent and erudite, Alejandro returns home to Teococuilco — after a brief self-exile in France — to a virtual ghost town. He experiences, first hand, the reality that Oaxaca has emerged as one of Mexico’s leading exporters of human labor to the United States. Inspired by this, he decides to create a monumental installation art piece: 2,501 life-size sculptures – an homage to each migrant who left his village. http://2501migrants-themovie.com/
"Bridge to the Future"
Produced by DOCIP (39 min) In the film Bridge to the future, Indigenous youth document the achievements of the first indigenous delegates at the UN.
"In The Image"
Filmed/ Directed by Judith Montell and Emmy Scharlatt "In The Image" is a documentary about Palestinian women who film human rights abuses in the West Bank. The women live in villages throughout the occupied territories of the West Bank, recording the violence and documenting human rights abuses as they occur. Each woman in our film is involved with the Camera Project, a unique collaboration of Jews and Muslims who use video as a means for non- violent activism. http://www.intheimagefilm.com/
"Utopia: A John Pilger Film"
Directed by John Pilger and Alan Lowery (110 mins) 2013 "Utopia" is John Pilger's new feature documentary, made for the cinema and ITV. Drawing on his long association with the first people of Australia, his homeland, Utopia is both an epic portrayal of the oldest continuous human culture and an investigation into a suppressed colonial past and rapacious present. One of the world's best kept secrets is revealed against a background of the greatest boom in mineral wealth. Has the 'lucky country' inherited South African apartheid? Utopia tells a universal story of power and resistance in the media age driven by old imperatives and presented as liberalism. http://johnpilger.com/
"Huicholes: The Last Peyote Guardians"
Directed by Hernan Vilchez (120 mins) 2014 Spanish/English Subtitles "Huicholes: the last peyote guardians." presents the emblematic case of the defense of Wirikuta, sacred territory to the Huichol people, against the threat of mining exploitation. This native people to this land, launches a spiritual crusade to protect life, evidencing the internal contradictions in our materialistic world.
The documentary also brings us closer to the different actions that are available to the public and that have been started by the Wixárika people to bring the defense of Wirikuta and its meaning out in the open. http://huicholesfilm.com/en/
“Project 562: Journey to Alaska”
Paper Rocket Productions in collaboration with Project 562 (18 mins) 2014 This film selection is a recent road journal that follows an anti-suicide voyage documented by Deidre Peaches of Paper Rocket Productions in collaboration Project 562. Matika Wilbur of Project 562 began a still photography project in 2012, photographing members of all 562+ federally recognized tribes. Her hope is that this work will serve to educate the nation and shift the collective consciousness toward recognizing our own indigenous communities. http://project562.com/ http://www.paperrocketproductions.com/
