'Lives of the Forest' was created by indigenous activists from across the Asia Pacific region exploring the likely impacts of the UN's REDD programme on indigenous resources and lifestyles. It was created during a participatory video facilitator training in Ifugao (Philippines) by representatives of 15 distinct indigenous communities from 8 different countries.
Conversations with the Earth has led to an international indigenous family of communities and media hubs covering 4 continents and many diverse ecosystems. Participatory Video capacity building was the catalyst to community empowerment and the amplifying of excluded voices of the traditional custodians of our planet's biocultural diversity. This photostory visually describes the 10 days we spent together in Copenhagen in December 2009 participating in the UN COP15 conference and Klimaforum, the people's summit.
The Apus, or sacred mountains are the guardians of the climate and the source of all pure water and thus have the power to protect or devastate communities living on them. The clip was made as part of a campaign to resist evangelical authorities and this video has resulted in local people taking up again traditional practices to nurture Mother Earth.
Inuit elders and youth documented how they worked together on building a traditional sealskin kayak using traditional tools - the first traditional Copper Inuit kayak since 1950s. Beautifully shot and full of laughter and traditonal crafts and cooking this video is a fascinating document of a valuable community project.
'Growing Up in Cambridge Bay' charts the experiences and lives of local youth in Cambridge Bay in the Arctic Circle. They document traditional fishing, hunting, Arctic sports, local legends on the origin of death and musical traditions such as throat singing.
This is a shortened version of a film made by Maasai pastoralists, living near Oltepesi in Kenya, in March 2009. It documents the devastating impacts of a seemingly endless drought across the region that killed livestock and people, threatened livelihoods and caused wide-spread suffering to many of the indigenous pastoralist communities.
Forest dwellers feel the heat as traditional seasons fail. Fruits are rotting on the trees due to the excessive heat. Even the forest floor is drying up. ‘Facing Changes in African Forests’ was created by members of the Baka community in eastern Cameroon during a Participatory Video training in April 2009.
'Kuna Conversations with Mother Earth' was created during a Participatory Video during which the Kuna Indians of Panama documented their struggle to conserve the forests, their main source of food and traditional medicine.
'Peru Conversations with Mother Earth' is a powerful film relating the Andean cosmovision. Quechua videographers documented seasonal changes, hail, melting glaciers, christian fundamentalism, and other threats to their culture, livelihoods and landscapes.
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