As the Bicentenary activities become more frequent in the build up to the 24th May celebrations, there will be much talk about the independence and liberation of Latin America and Argentina. As such, the brutal memories of the raping of the land described by Eduardo Galeano in ‘The Open Veins of Latin America’ may seem like a distant historical events.
However, the Instituto Multimedia DerHumALC (Human Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean), has chosen to use this event to remind people how far there is still to go, on a continental and worldwide level. The theme of this festival is ‘despojo’, which means ‘plundering’.
This year’s judges and curators have chosen films to introduce discourse on the plundering that continues today, 200 years after the revolution. To highlight the importance of raising awareness of the continuation of despojo the first screening took place at the Casa del Bicentenario, which will also later host a debate.
The film screened was ‘Meat The Truth’, the 2008 documentary presented by Marianne Thieme, leader of The Party for the Animals in the Netherlands. She argues that intensive livestock farming is more detrimental to the environment than all the greenhouse gasses emitted by cars, boats, trains and planes put together.
This topic is particularly pertinent here in Argentina, where Argentines consume an average of around 65kg of beef each, every year and even more so as the solution she advocates is not eating meat, something that seems unthinkable in a country where the parrilla is such an inherent part of the culture. This was a mouthwatering taste of the thought-provoking cinema that lies in store at the end of the month, when the festival starts.
The festival has been split into sections, all of which deal with a different aspect of despojo and for each topic there are correlating films and activities. Although it is a film festival, there are a variety of activities designed to encourage discussion and debate around each subject.
Before the festival starts on Wednesday, fans of photography and percussion can enjoy a special ‘Bomba del Tiempo’ tonight at Ciudad Cultural Konex, where there will be an exhibition of photographs based on the theme of ‘articultores’ and ‘GuerillaHuerta’ – guerilla gardening. This will be an interesting opportunity to see the work of people who have actively worked against the idea of dispossession by reclaiming spaces through horticulture.
The festival organisers have made sure that they are not simply reiterating obsolete tracts about plundering of the land, by making the themes topical. One of them is ‘Focus on Haiti’. Two Haitian film directors, Arnold Antonin and Franz Voltaire, have been invited to speak, along with Eduardo Galeano who wrote about the ‘White Curse’ of Haiti in 2004, about the social and political situations that led to the current problems that are affecting the island.
The two directors will also be screening their short films. The screening will be followed by a debate and dance show from Movimiento Afrocultural. As media groups draw their focus away to other natural disasters and stories, the festival organisers have made a worthy choice to consider this poor island in a larger framework.
If the idea of dispossession coupled with debate in Spanish seems too heavy and you just want to watch a film and learn a little about a topic, the festival has plenty to offer. The other themes are ‘Territory’, ‘Identity’, ‘Looking at Gender’, ‘Infancy and Youth’, ‘Panorama’, ‘Focus Iran’ and ‘Window on Napoli’.
If you are interested in learning more about the steaks you have been indulging in at your local parilla, ‘Meat the Truth’ will be screening again. The organisers explained that it is one of their favourites in the programme ‘because, as part of the territorio section, it deals with the use of land and the environment, which is a particularly important topic at the moment.
Likewise, ‘ARUSI Persian Wedding’ and ‘Letters to the President’ are both part of the ‘Focus Iran’ section. Marilina Quiroga, press representative for the festival said, ‘We wanted to present a critique of the violence and conflict that is happening today in Iran.’
If you are looking for a film that covers something more global, ‘Dying in Abundance‘ is filmed in the US and in India and covers the issue of world hunger.
These are just a few of the films available in English. If you are feeling adventurous with your Spanish, there are films from France, Spain, Iran, Italy and even Poland, which will be subtitled in Spanish. Some of the screenings will also include a discussion with a knowledgeable guest or a director. For example, Maria Di Pietro will be present for the screenings of her film ‘Nomade NAPOLI’ and Hebe de Bonafini, one of the leaders of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, will be discussing the struggle of the mothers of the disappeared in Kenya.
And even if you’re not feeling confident with your Spanish, there are many side activities planned, including a day-long festival on Saturday 1st May – also Día del Trabajador (Labour Day) – which will be appropriately held in IMPA, one of Argentina’s landmark recuperated factories. The event starts at 3pm and will feature video clips, music, dance, theatre and a feria, as well as a central debate about workers’ rights, before a big party in the factory that night.
All but one of the screening locations is free to enter, so you have nothing to lose from taking a look and enjoying some interesting cinema, whilst learning a little more about what gave rise to the problems around us and why despojos continue to this day.
The Human Rights Film Festival lasts from 29th April – 5th May and takes place in a variety of locations around Buenos Aires. See the www.derhumalc.org.ar/festival for a day by day programme. (Spanish)