October 2014
Indiegogo Campaign for the USA and Canada film tour of Huicholes: The Last Peyote Guardians
The production team of this documentary started a fundraising campaign through Indigogo to support the United States and Canada film tour.
The premiere will be on November 5th in Houston, Texas, hosted by Rice University.
The film, directed by Hernán Vilchez and produced by Paola Stefani, was released at Real de Catorce, San Luis Potosí, Mexico during the month of May of this year. Since then, there have been continuous screenings in Mexico and other Latinamerican countries. Many of these have been presented for free in public spaces, the biggest one being the one at Mexico City’s zocalo on August 28th, with 3000 viewers. Wixaritari (huichol) traditional authorities and people from all of the wixaritari (huichol) communities supported and helped promote the event, trusting it will help protect the sacred territory of Wirikuta located in the dessert of San Luis Potosí, as well as the protection of Mother Earth, an issue that concern everyone living in this planet.
Since May of this year, more than twenty thousand people have watched the film. According to the producers, it is time to spread the message of the huichol people in other parts of the world. For this reason, they are starting a journey, along with two members of the Ramirez family (huicholes playing the main role in the documentary), through more than twenty cities of the United States and Canada.
Four years ago, the wixárika people publicly spoke out against mining concessions in Wirikuta, requesting their cancellation. These concessions are currently suspended as a consequence of legal complaint submitted by the wixárika people. However, the cancellation has not been achieved yet.
Civil society’s participation in Mexico and the world has been fundamental to sustain the spiritual struggle of the wixárika people, as well as the defense of indigenous people in Mexico. Once more, the support of civil society is requested as well as the collaboration in this fundraising campaign in Indiegogo, one of the most prestigious funding digital plataforms.
Economic contributions and help to promote this campaign are requested.
Indiegogo campaign for Huicholes: The Last Peyote Guardians http://igg.me/at/huicholes-film/x/8859582
Source: Jornada Newspaper
(México, October 30, 2014)
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2014/10/30/productores-de-201chuicholes-los-ultimos-guardianes-del-peyote201d-recaudan-fondos-para-gira-del-documental-2199.html
USA & Canada Film Tour 2014
FILM CHRONICLES THE MOVEMENT TO SAVE A SACRED LAND AND A VISIONARY CULTURE
Oct. 6, 2014 –– The film Huicholes: The Last Peyote Guardians will be on a North American tour with 30+ screenings in more than 20 cities in the United States and Canada, with the U.S. premiere at Rice University Theater in Houston, Texas, and the Canadian premiere hosted by Cinema Politica in Montreal, Quebec.
The documentary presents the emblematic case of the defense of Wirikuta, sacred territory to the Wixárika (Huichol) people against the threat of transnational mining corporations. The Wixárika people, native to the Sierra Madre, have since time immemorial made their pilgrimages to this land; now they find themselves at the forefront of a spiritual crusade to protect life, evidencing the internal contradictions in our materialistic world.
“This documentary combines stunning cinematography with engaged and compassionate storytelling to bring an underrepresented tale of resistance to Cinema Politica audiences and beyond,” said Ezra Winton, co-founder of the Montreal-based media arts organization.
The movie, which drew 3,000 people to a single showing in Mexico City, won awards in Argentina and brought a mining industry executive to tears in Chile, has been sought by viewers in more than 40 countries, many of whom are going on to organize showings in their own cities.
“This is more than a movie – it’s a movement,” said Argentine director Hernan Vilchez, who received the request to make the movie from the Elder’s Council when he visited remote mountain community on a different assignment. Vilchez left his job and took the challenge, following the deeply spiritual Huichol people for more than three years; together with the production crew interviewing more than 30 individuals and documenting the growing storm as a movement built in Mexico’s civil society to support them in their quest to save the Birthplace of the Sun.
Vilchez and two Mara’kate (Huichol spiritual leaders), the father and son protagonists, will introduce and discuss the film at each screening. Individual events are being organized in each city with a local committee, which will help decide the program, set the agenda and draw the connections between local issues and those portrayed in the film – and there are many, according to Bryan Parras, founder of the Houston-based environmental justice organization t.e.j.a.s..
“The environmental movement is beginning to recognize that indigenous communities and people of color are impacted most by extractive industries and climate change. These same communities benefit the least from these developments and are often left with the legacy of toxic pollutants,” said Parras. “Organizations like Idle No More, the Indigenous Environmental Network and the People’s Climate Justice Alliance are reshaping the environmental movement. Likewise, new networks are being formed in the south with our brothers and sisters in Mexico and Latin America.”
After leaving Houston, the film tour will make stops in Austin and San Antonio, New Mexico and California before heading to Canada and then back to Arizona. The California premiere will take place the Red Nation Film Festival in Beverly Hills on Nov. 7 before making multiple stops in in the greater Los Angeles area. In Canada, the film will kick off Cinema Politica’s Divine Interventions series.
“We are thrilled to say that Huicholes embodies the precise theme and approach we have hoped for in our series Divine Interventions: Documentary, Spirituality and Social Justice,” said Winton. “It is as if this film was made for our program and we can’t wait to share it across Canada.”
Under a historic agreement with Wixarika traditional authorities (https://huicholesfilm.com/es/?p=655), the film crew will be reporting all proceeds publicly and will hold a second meeting at the end of November to continue developing projects in the communities depicted in the film, as reported in the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-l-barnett/filmmakers-sign-historic-_b_5776702.html.
Also under the agreement, the film production crew helped raise the money to offer several screenings in the remote Wixarika territories, a feat in itself. Since its release in May, the movie has been seen by more than 17,000 people – most of them in free screenings throughout Mexico. Of the 107 screenings since the premiere in May, 10,700 saw the movie in 17 free public screenings – an enormous effort made possible by the contributions of many people and organizations.
For details about the various screenings visit www.huicholesfilm.com. You can also find information on Facebook: @Huicholes: The Last Peyote Guardians and Twitter: @PeyoteGuardians, and it can be rented online at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/huicholesfilm. Itinerary attached.
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US/CANADA FILM TOUR ITINERARY – Nov./Dec. 2014
USA
Texas
Houston
Nov 5 – Rice University Cinema – 7 pm
Nov 6 – Houston TBD
Austin
Nov 7 – 5604 Manor Community Center – 7 pm.
San Antonio
Nov 8 – Esperanza Peace and Justice Center– 6 pm
Nov 9 – San Antonio Public Library – Mission Branch – 2-5 pm
Nov 10 – San Antonio Public Library – Ito Branch – 2-5 pm
New Mexico
Taos
Nov 12 – Taos Mesa Brewing Co. – 8:30 pm
Nov 13 – Taos Center for the Arts – 7 pm
Santa Fe Nov 14 – Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
Albuquerque
Nov 15 – La Plazita Institute | Nov 16 – Indian Pueblo Culture Center
California
San Diego Area
Nov 17 – San Diego State University – 5 pm
Nov 18 – Chula Vista Public Library – 2 pm
WorldBeat Cultural Center – 8 pm
Los Angeles Area
Nov 19 – Fullerton College Campus Theater – 6 pm
Nov 20 – Pasadena City College, Harbeson Hall – 6 pm
Nov 21 – LA – TBA
Bay Area
Nov 22 – San Francisco – TBA
Arizona
Phoenix
Dec 1 – Crescent Ballroom – 4 pm and 7 pm
Tucson
Dec 2 – The Loft Cinema – 7 pm
Sedona
Dec 3 – Sedona Film Festival – Mary Fisher Theater – 4 pm and 7 pm
Flagstaff
Dec 5 – Center for Indigenous Music and Art
CANADA
Montreal
Nov 24 – Cinema Politica/Concordia University Auditorium
Toronto
Nov 26 – University of Toronto – OISE Auditorium – 6:30 pm
Nov 27 – York University, Mirkopolis Theater
Vancouver
Nov 28 – SFU Woodwards Auditorium
Nov 29 – East Van Community Supper
US Venues working on confirmation
Window Rock, Navaho Nation Museum, Dic. 6 (Tentativa)
Gallup, N.M., Dic. 7 (Tentativa)
Durango, Colorado. – Dec. 8 (Tentativa)
Denver – Dic. 9 (Tentativa)
Hawaii – Dic. 10-14 (Tentativa)
Organization and Press Contact USA & Canada Film Tour: Tracy Barnett | 210-867-9767 | [email protected]
