We Women Warriors
(Nosotras Mujeres Guerreras)
70 minutes and 52 minutes; Two versions: 1) Spanish; 2) Spanish with English subtitles; DV CAM; © 2011
We Women Warriors follows three brave and remarkable native women in Colombia as they nonviolently lead their people and defend their autonomy amid ongoing warfare. Doris Puchana is a young, valiant mother who governs the vulnerable Awá population caught in the epicenter of the drug war where coca leaves (the base for cocaine) is grown. She fiercely protects her people, even when her own life is threatened. Ludis Rodriguez, a spunky Kankuamo widow and mother, tells us, from inside prison, how she was framed and captured on false charges of rebellion. Once Ludis is freed she is able to move onward to reconstruct a family and future after systematic violence has swept through her region. Tiny in height but tremendous in spirit and presence, Flor Ilva Trochez is the first female Nasa governor of Jambaló. She leads her people in a pacific movement to dismantle police barracks that endanger civilians by placing them in the rebel’s line of fire. Colombia has 102 indigenous groups that despite their neutral stance are caught in the crossfire. While the stories in We Women Warriors bear witness to human rights abuses, they are also stories of hope, zest for life, courage to move onward and faith in indigenous culture.
Separated By Free Trade
(Separados Por El Libre Comercio)
14 minutes; English subtitles © 2009 - with music by Lila Downs
Fifteen years of free trade with Mexico has put the country’s 56 indigenous cultures at risk. In Chiapas, Juana and her children struggle to survive as her husband works illegally in the U.S. This is the story of thousands of Mexicans who lost livelihoods in the Mexican countryside due to the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. This is the story of the women left behind to farm, raise children, and carry on culture as their husbands toil beyond a dangerous border.
To Be Dust In Our Land: The Case of German Escué Zapata
(Ser Polvo En Nuestra Tierra: El Caso de German Escué Zapata)
28 minutes; English subtitles - in post-production
What happens when an indigenous nation organizes to reclaim its ancestral lands? In southern Colombia, where the land recuperation movement has been active since the 1970s, the answer is: They get killed. This film follows the case of German Escué Zapata, a Nasa leader in the state of Cauca, who was tortured and killed by the Colombian army in 1988. It traces his family and community as they search for justice, a quest that eventually leads them to the Inter-American Court on Human Rights in Costa Rica in 2007. The film shows how the movement to recover ancestral lands continues in southern Colombia, as does the extra-judicial killing of its leaders.
