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Social justice on film Atlanta, Ga.—"I think [documentary film] is one of the only mediums that allows viewers to make a connection between what's going on in their countries to what's going on outside of their countries," said Janvieve William Comerie, program director Latin American and Caribbean Film Festival.
Started two years ago in an effort to educate and create awareness about problems plaguing the Latin American and Caribbean communities, the festival has set as its goal speaking for communities of color, tackling the subject of poverty and exposing injustice and oppression in overlooked places. "The festival is always linked to social justice," Comerie noted. "It allows viewers here in North America who might be somewhat isolated from what's going on regionally in Latin American and the Caribbean to see accounts of things that have happened, real things that happened with real interviews of people." In its first year, the festival focused on the African diaspora, showcasing films portraying the struggles of Afro-Latinos and Afro-Caribbeans. In its second year, the program examined indigenous people and their (sometimes forced) migrations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. In its third installment, The LACFF took a huge step in its mission to put a visual with an issue by partnering up with the Human Rights Network to screen a series of powerful and informative documentaries. From bigger productions like Peter Raymont's The World Stopped Watching—sequel to the 1987 award-winning documentary The World Is Watching—to smaller-budget films like the documentary short When the River Meets the Sea, all featured films portrayed a poignant and sometimes devastating picture of human rights abuses. But, conversely—and vitally—they all depicted the courage of people striving against such oppression with hope. The World Stopped Watching is a cinéma vérité examination of foreign news coverage of a climactic moment in the US-financed Contra war against Nicaragua's revolutionary government, while When the River Meets the Sea portrays the travails of the Garifuna community in Honduras during and after deadly Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
The evening was capped off with an Afrisalsa dance lesson from Anana Parris. Afrisalsa, which combines African dance forms with Latin salsa attitude, reflects the diversity within the Latin American and Caribbean community and helps convey the blending of cultures that have emerged from this region's melting pot. Its third installment reveals that the Latin American and Caribbean Film Festival is still a young and growing event—but one with a unique look at films and their objectives. Comerie said she hopes to see "more of the local Latino and Caribbean community involved, and students... it will also be an honor for the festival to be associated with organizations that are fighting for protection of human rights." In the long term, Comerie said, the festival is also hoping to award its entries—but only with an award system that is in accordance with the spirit of its mission to promote social justice. "I am not sure that we would award a film directly," she said, "but maybe award the country of origin or the community—not just reward one or two people that covered the stories of hundreds of people. "Even though their jobs and work are very important in bringing the stories, it's not [the producer or the director] at the center of the film. So we will be opening the access to other people in those communities also to benefit." Comerie encouraged the local film community to utilize the documentary form to help the Latin American and Caribbean Center bring to light important matters that may go unnoticed or ignored by popular media. "We always need people to help us document these things," she said. "So one area that filmmakers and film producers can get involved will be to document the work that we do on the ground. We talk to the undocumented population all the time so we need to start visually recording their stories. "We do have serious issues that we deal with and people tend to say that we live in a serious condition; do we want to come out and see serious issues again?" The Latin American and Caribbean Community Center screens films dedicated to issues of social justice on the second Friday of each month at WRFG 89.3-FM, located at 1083 Austin Avenue in Little Five Points. For information about film screenings and news on Latin America and the Caribbean, visit www.lacccenter.org. Eric Bomba-Ire is the founder of cinemATL |
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