Indigenous Film and Video in Latin America: Resources for Collection Development

Note: This website supplements a paper presented at the SALALM XLIX conference in 2004 and to be published in the SALALM Papers in 2008.

Indigenous Film and Video in Latin America:
Resources for Collection Development

The National Museum of the American Indian Film and Video Center is the best source for information on indigenous film in North America as well as on Latin America. The FVC serves both as an archive of indigenous film and a center for their promotion via screenings, sponsoring of festivals and video tours in the U.S. and Mexico (such as the “Eye of the Condor” and “Video Mexico Indígena” tours) and providing networking and publicity for visiting filmmakers. FVC Director Elizabeth Weatherford notes that the Archive contains 2,500 titles, the full catalog of which is maintained internally by Film and Video Center staff. While the archive has moved to the Mall in Washington D.C., the promotional section of the FVC remains in New York City. The FVC is available for reference consultations, referrals to distributors of indigenous film and on-site viewing of films by appointment only. Since the Archive has recently moved to Washington D.C., it is advisable to call ahead for current policies, although there is a viewing collection in the Resource Centers in NYC and DC.

The two-volume Native Americans on Film and Video produced by the FVC staff serves as a retrospective catalog for the collection, covering works from the beginning of the century through the 1980s. It includes an annotated listing of films, distributor information and prominent collections of Native American film and is supplemented by an online counterpart called “Native Networks” or “Redes Indígenas” (http://www.nativenetworks.si.edu/frameset_flash.html). This bilingual website contains a wealth of information on indigenous film and radio including information for youth media makers; a listing of past and current festivals and corresponding programming; PDF catalog searchable by title, director, region and tribe; close-ups on filmmakers and video collectives; a resource list of film/video and radio organizations and distributors from some Latin American countries such as Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico. The NMAI also sponsors the biennial Native American Film and Video Festival which covers all of the Americas. To keep abreast of the current work of the FVC and its catalog, it is best to obtain the annual festival schedule and NMAI Events calendars because the PDF catalog was last updated July 2001. NMAI events are posted on the Museum website at http://www.nmai.si.edu, but I feel that the most comprehensive version is available in print at the Museum.

The following list of resources (producers, distributors, online catalogs and festivals) – supplements the indispensable work of the NMAI FVC – is intended to help you identify and obtain indigenous film and video.

Apoyo Para el Campesino Indígena del Oriente Boliviano (APCOB)
Calle Cuatro Ojos #80
Villa San Luis
Casilla Postal 4213
Santa Cruz de la Sierra - Bolivia
Teléfonos: (+591) 3 - 3542119; (+591) 3 - 3542120; (+591) 3 - 3539954
Fax : (+591) 3 - 3542120 internal: 107
Vide and Radio Section E-mail: video@apcob.org.bo
Requests for catalog: apcobibl@entelnet.bo
Website: http://www.apcob.org.bo/videos.htm
APCOB is a non-governmental organization that works on sustainable development projects with lowland Bolivian indigenous groups. One of its components produces documentaries about indigenous cultures of the Amazon in indigenous languages with translation to Spanish. Their productions include over 35 documentaries. APCOB’s Documentation Center includes a video collection of 1,500 titles. Although no pricing information is available, there is an e-mail link for purchasing videos.

ChileCine: Una Ventana al Mundo Audiovisual Chileno - ProChile
E-mail: aalaluf@prochile.cl
Website: http://www.chilecine.cl/espanol/index.php
ProChile is a cultural promotion initiative that, among other things, maintains an online catalog of films produced in Chile. Among the indigenous titles included are four documentaries: Ahinam Chay: Así es esta Historia directed by Rodrigo Sepulveda, a bilingual (Quechua/Spanish) documentary that discusses gender, sexual relationships and the aspirations of an indigenous community in Cuzco, Peru; Un Viaje en el Uro Aruma: El Día Aymara by Hernin Dinamarca, a video which documents the discussion between a Western scientist and an Aymara woman as they visit the Chilean altiplano; Raíz de Chile Mapuche Aymara by David Benavente which deals with the major indigenous groups in Chile; and La Historia de Blanca y su Mágica Tierra de Agua by Angeles Nuño, where the protagonist discusses Mapuche life and legends. Contains distributor information.

Chirapaq: Centro de Culturas Indias
Av. Horacio Urteaga
Jesús María
Lima 11 PERU
Telefax: 51-1-4232757
E-mails: warmi@chirapaq.org.pe / ayllu@chirapaq.org.pe
Website: http://www.chirapaq.org.pe/
Chirapaq is a non-profit organization which supports instructional, training and development projects for indigenous people in Peru. Chirapaq members are listed among the participants in a regional Latin American filmmaking workshop in Iquique in 2002 and the organization has produced radio programs and videos. Videos listed on their website include three documentaries: Mi Vida al Infinito which tells the story of 115 year old indigenous elder Tayta Ciprian; Del Silencio a la Palabra which discusses the experiences of women in Chirapaq and the Permanent Forum; and Nuestros Cuentos a collection of three traditional children’s stories.

Cine Ojo Films & Video
Lavalle 1619 3ro. E / CP (1048)
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Telephone/Fax: 5411 4373 8208
E-mail: cineojo@cineojo.com.ar
Website: http://www.cineojo.com.ar/
Cine Ojo produces Una Sola Voz, an exclusive video documentary about an indigenous assembly on land reform in Argentina by Carmen Guarini and Marcelo Céspedes.

CONACULTA/IMCINE Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía
Susana Lopez Aranda, Subdirectora de Promoción y Distribución Internacional
IMCINE. Insurgentes Sur 674
Del Valle, México City 03100
Telephone: (5255) 54485339, (5255) 54485337
Fax: (5255) 54485380
E-mail: promint@imcine.gob.mx
Website: http://www.imcine.gob.mx/marcos/base_promo.html
Online catalog includes various indigenous films, including Ariel-winning Chenalhó, el Corazón de los Altos by Isabel Fregoso, which documents indigenous people in Chiapas living in a state of combat and forced migration; Santo Luzbel by Miguel Sabido which deals with a culture clash between priests, a cacique and a group of indigenous people (who have a particular way of re-enacting the “Fall of Lucifer”); and Vera by Francisco Athié, a feature film about an indigenous miner and his vision of the universe as seen through Mayan cosmology (in Mayan with English subtitles).

The Video Project: Educational Videos on the Environment, Science and Social Studies
PO Box 411376
San Francisco, CA 94141-1376
Telephone: U.S. callers: 1-800-475-2638 / International callers 415-241-2514
Fax: 415 821-7204
E-mail: video@videoproject.net
Website: http://www.videoproject.net/subject_areas/subject_humanpop.html - anchor783234
All together, the “Indigenous Cultures: Central and South America” and “Role Models” sections of this website includes 7 titles, one of which includes a resource book.

Ethnoscope: Multicultural Films and Videos
PO Box 92353
Rochester, NY 14692
585-442-5274
E-mail: mail@docfilm.com
Website: http://www.docfilm.com/
Director Bruce “Pacho” Lane has produced 6 documentaries on Mexican indigenous cultures which deal with politics, education, dance and mythology.

Etnias de Colombia
E-mail: info@etniasdecolombia.org
Website: http://www.etniasdecolombia.org/
This website is run by a group of professionals and scholars who are involved in cultural research; design social, cultural and development projects; and provide training in television and radio. The Audiovisuales section maintains an online catalog that includes 88 videos on different indigenous groups in Colombia. Each record includes a synopsis and producer (though no contact information).

Filmakers Library
124 East 40th Street,
New York, NY 10016
Phone: 212-808-4980
Fax: 212-808-4983
E-mail: info@filmakers.com
Website: http://www.filmakers.com/
Most titles in the Filmakers Library are picked up by LAVA (except for “Sentinels of the Earth) but I am including it in this list because they are proactive in including study guides for certain titles, which may be of use to scholars and librarians.

Huaorani Films Pilot Project - One Sky Productions
Scott Braman
Cultural Survival
215 Prospect St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
Telephone: 617-441-5400
E-mail: Scott.C.Braman.99@Alum.Dartmouth.ORG
Website: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/special_projects/americas/onesky.cfm
One Sky Productions provides equipment, training, production and editing assistance for Huaorani filmmakers in Ecuador. This website mentions video footage, but it is not clear if any edited films have already been produced and distributed; e-mails were not responded.

Latin American Video Archive (LAVA)
124 Washington Place
New York, NY 10014
Telephone: 212-243-4804 / Fax: 212-243-2007
E-mail: info@lavavideo.org
Website: http://www.lavavideo.org
LAVA maintains an online catalog of 8,000 titles, 3,000 of which are in their collection and 400 of which they distribute and for which they have public performance rights. A comprehensive search of existing indigenous films is difficult because the online catalog lacks controlled vocabulary and thesaurus, but the LAVA’s subject focus and substantial collection make it a good place to identify (if not always purchase) indigenous films (and their synopsis of films are often more descriptive than those on festival or other distributor websites). LAVA is also a great resource because its archive is publicly available for on-site viewing.

Petate Productions
Telephone: 323-665-6711
E-mail: petate@petate.com
Website: http://www.petate.com
This is a production company led by female indigenous filmmaker, Yolanda Cruz. Cruz is dedicated to film on indigenous topics, as her five works presented can attest.

Producciones Nicobis
Avenida Saavedra 1036 Miraflores
Casílla 4002
La Paz - Bolivia
Telephone: 591-2-795433 / 591-2- 376962
Fax: 591-2-796000 / 591-2-796000
E-mail: lidelaq@hotmail.com (Liliana Ovando)
Website: http://www.utopos.org/Cine/Produc/Nicobis.htm
Produces ethnographic film of indigenous peoples of the Andes and Amazon. Also produces, in conjunction with UNICEF, three animations of indigenous myths for bilingual education programs (Guaraní/Aymara/Quechua) for children.

Productions B'alba
5704 rue St-Urbain
Montréal, Québec
H2T 2X3 Canada
Telephone/Fax: 514-270-7983
E-mail: medavis@sympatico.ca
Website: http://www3.sympatico.ca/medavis
This bilingual (French/English) website contains the works of Mary Ellen Davis and includes three films focusing on Guatemalan Indians: Haunted Land, Tierra Madre and The Devil’s Dream. Ms. Davis is also a program advisor for the film and videoprogram of the Montreal First Peoples' Festival.

Ser Indígena: Portal de las Culturas Originarias de Chile
Website: http://www.serindigena.cl/territorios/recursos/multimedia/videos/videos.htm
This website, created by the Area Culturas Originarias del Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes de Chile maintains a video section containing streamed animation, music and cultural videos. Among the videos currently included is a short entitled Mujeres.

Taller de Historia Oral Andina / Qhip Nayr Uñtasis Sarnaqapxañani
E-mail: thoalp@ceibo.entelnet.bo
Website: http://www.aymaranet.org/thoa1.html
THOA is composed of a noted group of indigenous professionals and intellectuals who promote Native history and culture via literature, radionovelas and video. Their videos include 10 documentaries and docudramas.

WITNESS: Using Video and Technology to Fight for Human Rights
80 Hanson Place, 5th Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Temp Phone: 212.274.1664
Temp Fax: 718.228.6083
E-mail: witness@witness.org
Website: http://www.witness.org
WITNESS is a human rights organization that makes video cameras accessible to local activists who are trained in production and advocacy. This website maintains an archive with some indigenous material in their Americas section.

All Roads Film Festival – National Geographic
Alexandra Nicholson
National Geographic
(202) 857-5838 / 202-857-7660
E-mail: allroads@ngs.org / anichols@ngs.org
Website: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/allroads/
The first All Roads Film Festival, which promotes cultural films of various genres created by indigenous and “under-represented minority-culture” filmmakers, will be held October 22 – 24, 2004 in Los Angeles and October 28-30, 2004 in Washington, D.C. National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project will also award seed grants for film and video-making. All works will also be considered for broadcast on the National Geographic Channel.

aluCine International Toronto Latino Film and Video Festival
Jorge Lozano / Juana Awad / Sinara Rozo
90 Oxford Street – Suite #8
Toronto, Canada
M5T 1P3 CANADA
Telephone: 416-966-4989
E-mail: info@alucinefestival.com
Website: http://www.alucinefestival.com/
The 2002 festival contains O Arco e a Lira / The Bow and the Lyre by Priscilla Barrak Ermel which discusses females’ musical expression in the Ikolem Gaviao culture of Brazil, Shomôtsi by Valdete Pinhata Asheninka which focuses on the life of an Ashenika man from the Peruvian and Brazilian border region, Haunted Land by Mary Ellen Davis, and some Video in the Villages films such as Marangmotxingmo Mirang / From the Ikpeng Children to the World, “Wai’a Rini, The Power of the Dream” by Divino Tserewahu. Website has only 2002 archive.

Cine Las Americas International Film Festival
Cine Las Americas
P.O. Box 1626
Austin, TX 78767
Telephone: 512-841-5930
Fax: 512-841-5722
Website: http://www.cinelasamericas.org/
This festival screens movies from all over the Americas and includes works by indigenous people. Its Youth Day screenings give preference to Latino and Native filmmakers under the age of 19. This year, it includes a clay animation film by indigenous children called La Historia de Todos (“Our Story”) which focuses on their lives, particularly as migrants and “Oaxacan Hoops” a documentary video directed by Olga R. Rodriguez, which deals with the cultural importance of basketball among the Zapotecs of Oaxaca and their immigrant counterparts in Los Angeles. Two co-sponsored events are “Revolución y Fantasía: Recent Mexican Cinema” which includes “Vera” (see CONACULTA in Producers and Distributors list) and the “People’s Power Documentary Film Series” which includes the video “Caracoles: New Pathos of Resistance” by the Chiapas Media Project and the movie “El Fuego y la Palabra 20 y 10 Years of Zapatista Struggles”. In the past three years, it has also screened the film Chenalhó, el Corazón de los Altos (see CONACULTA in Producers and Distributors list); Voces de la Sierra Tarahumara by Felix Gehm and Robert Brewster which shows the Tarahumara community’s fight against drug lords and other political and economic players; and Discovering Dominga, a PBS documentary about a Maya woman who was adopted to an Iowa couple after having witnessed the massacre of her parents and her journey back to her community; and Forest Fast Food by Bill Day about the Kaapor of the Brazilian Amazon. The festival is also linked to The Cine Las Americas Media Arts Center that maintains a media library that focuses on cultures of the Americas. The website does not arrange films by thematic categories but by genre and does not include producer contact information. One of the festival coordinators noted that an archive of past festivals is forthcoming.

Encuentro Hispanoamericano de Video Documental Independiente: Contra el Silencio Todas las Voces
Carrasco #74, Colonia Toriello Guerra.
Tlalpan, C.P. 14050, México, D.F.
Tel-fax: (52-55) 55-28-07-97 or (52-55) 56-06-73-76
Website: http://www.contraelsilencio.org/
Maintains a collection of over 500 videos from first and second reunions. Includes prizes for indigenous film documentaries; network members include Ivan Sanjines and Guillermo Monteforte.

Festival de Cine y Video de los Pueblos Indígenas de Abya-Yala
Website: http://conaie.nativeweb.org/cine.html
This festival takes place in Quito, Ecuador. The last one I know took place is in 2001, but the only website information I could find for it is dated 1999. Films screened here are also screened in indigenous communities throughout Ecuador.

Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano
Website: http://www.habanafilmfestival.com/index2.php3?festi=2003
This festival, which takes place in Havana, includes indigenous films. The 25th Festival, screened in 2003, contained two animations with indigenous themes. Los Hijos del Sol / Children of the Sun by Alfredo Ovando from Bolivia deals with the myth of the founding of the Incan Empire. Taita Carnaval by Pablo Carrasco, from Ecuador, tells the story of Taita Carnaval who must battle Yarcay (hunger) and other obstacles that would prevent bringing well-being to indigenous people. Website contains producer and contact information.

Human Rights Film Festival 3 Continents Asia, Africa, America
Website: http://www.3continentsfestival.co.za/films_america.html#
2003 Americas section contains two films with indigenous themes: Ajishama, the White Ibis by John Dickenson, a documentary about the Makiritare of the Venezuelan Amazon and social development projects initiated by Jesuit missionary José Maria Korta; and Wichí: From the Bush and from the River by Marina Rubino, a documentary on an indigenous group in northern Argentina and their interactions with Anglican missionaries.

Latin American Film Festival
Website: http://www.oas.org/FilmFestival/2003/
Organized by the Cultural Foundation of the Americas, American Film Institute, Association of Ibero-American Cultural Attachés, this festival occasionally picks up indigenous films such as the animation Ogú y Mampato en Rapa Nui by Alejandro Rojas Téllez which tells of the culture and adventures of an indigenous girl named Marama; Brave Brazilian People Lúcia Murat, a historical fiction about the encounter between Portuguese colonizers and Indian groups (with Native actors), and three Ecuadorian films with indigenous themes (in 1999 festival).

Montreal’s First Peoples’ Festival
Terres en vues
6865, rue Christophe-Colomb bureau 102
Montréal, Québec H2S 2H3
Telephone: (514) 278-4040
E-mail: tev@nativelynx.qc.ca
Website: http://www.nativelynx.qc.ca/
Bilingual (French-English) website covers annual festival of Native films of the Americas where half the films are made by indigenous filmmakers. The Filmography link contains a searchable Films and Video Catalogue searchable list of films by genre; results contain summary of film and producer contact information. Latin American films featured are predominately from Bolivia, Brazil and Mexico.

Muestra “Documentales y Fotografías de América Latina” – Asociación ProDocumentales Cine y TV
Asociación ProDocumentales Cine y TV
Apartado de Correos 551 - 02080 Albacete – España
Telephone and Fax: (34) 967 27 14 73
E-mail: asociacion@prodocumentales.org
Website: http://www.prodocumentales.org/paginas/muestra.html
This annual festival takes place in Spain and is coordinated by documentary filmmakers and photographers who want to foment work in their respective professions. The festival includes various works by and about indigenous people, but reader must sort through list as they are not separated into an “indigenous” category. Summaries and basic film information are included. Website is updated regularly.

Santa Barbara Latino CineMedia Festival
Website: http://www.sblatinofilm.com/cinemedia.html
Special panel on “Indigenous Cinema: Native American Women and Filmmaking” featuring filmmaker Yolanda Cruz of Petate Productions.

Córdova, Amalia. The Money Problem. Cultural Survival Quarterly. June 15, 2005. Issue 29.2.

Córdova, Amalia and Melanie Schnell. Resources for Indigenous Film and Video Makers. Cultural Survival Quarterly. June 15, 2005. Issue 29.2.