Indigènes

Indigenous peoples in the past have been portrayed in the past as savage people, unenlightened and incongruous to the rapidness of modern society and the values that go with it. People who have watched cowboy TV series and movies like "The Naked Prey" are familiar with the archetypical primitive native who puts the cowboy or the white man through hell.

Thanks to the Native American civil rights movement in the United States and the works of human rights activists around the world, indigenous peoples in Africa, Australia, and the Americas were no longer associated with scalping and massacres. Instead, film makers went to the other extreme, portraying native peoples as passive victims of globalisation and the negative effects of the last century, as seen in Marco Bechis' film Birdwatchers (Terra Vermelha).

When Freddy Treuquil, a film director from Chile's Mapuche people organised the Native Spirit Film Festival, native film makers from around the world finally had the chance to deliver their own messages to a greater audience. Ultimately, the aim of the festival is to "to rescue the forgotten memory of respect for mother Earth".

Films in this year's festival include The Tunguska Project, about a Native Candian film maker visiting the Evenk people of Siberia, and Tainá-Kan, about how the Karajá of Brazil have drawn parallels between the origin of agriculture and events in the universe. President Evo shows the reaction of the Aymara to the land redistibution programme first implemented by Bolivia's first indigenous leader.

For many Western audiences that are accustomed to fast-paced drama and action, these films will take some getting used to. But if one is patient enough to watch these movies from start to finish, one can enjoy the fundamental messages that these films offer without dismissing them as preachy documentary style features.

For instance, The Voice of the Mapuche tells audiences how persecution from society makes our bond with the environment stronger.

Despite being aware of the dangers that modernisation bring to our world, these film directors do not demonize M.E.D.Cs (More Economically Developed Countries) and the way they have let greed guide their actions. Instead, they try to remind us what we are missing by ignoring the Earth as well as reminding us that it is up to us to find more meaning in life than consumerism.

Sources:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/nov/08/native-spirit-film-festival

http://countrystudies.us/united-states/history-133.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/sep/18/birdwatchers-brazil-amazon-tribe

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479184/plotsummary