Chiapas Media Project Zapatista Film Series

Chiapas Media Project Zapatista Film Series is Coming to San Francisco! Thursday September 19, 9:00pm Brava! Studio Theater 2781 24th Street San Francisco California, 94110 tel: 415-641-7657 For More Information about the event go to: http://www.cineaccion.com/program/index.html For More Information about the Chiapas Media Project go to: http://www.chiapasmediaproject.org Chiapas Media Project Founder and Director, Alexandra Halkin, will introduce the showing of the following films: Zapata’s Garden dir. Alexandra Halkin, 2002, Mexico, 19:13 min, Tzeltal and Spanish with English subtitles Shot and produced by the indigenous men and women of the Autonomous Municipality of Emiliano Zapata, this video looks at how this new society is fighting the effects of globalization and government corruption through their work in their collective garden. Defending The Forest dir. Alexandra Halkin, 2002, Mexico, 18:10 min, Spanish with English subtitles, The 1994 signing of NAFTA allowed the Boise Cascade Corporation to reap thousands of kilometers of virgin forests, leaving in its wake deserts. Enduring arrest and torture, the Organization of the Campesino Environmentalists successfully halted Boise Cascade’s exploitation. The Silence of The Zapatistas dir. Alexandra Halkin, 2001, Mexico, 12:35 min, Spanish with English subtitles The Mexican government's military build-up and refusal to ratify the San Andres Accords brought an end to the EZLN's silence. This program documents multiple non-violent protests culminating in the decision to travel to Mexico City to state their case to the Mexican Congress. La Marcha Por La Dignidad Rebelde dir. Javier Samano and Raul Maximo 2001, Mexico, 35min This piece captures the historic and highly emotional Zapatista tour throughout Mexico ending in Mexico City. Alexandra Halkin, Video Producer/ Founder and Director, Chiapas Media Project Independent documentary video producer, Alexandra Halkin has been producing documentaries for the last 20 years. In March, 1995, she made her first visit to Chiapas, Mexico when hired to produce a documentary about a joint US-Mexican humanitarian aid caravan to a Zapatista region in the "zone of conflict." During this trip community members told Alexandra they had a great interest in having access to video and computer technology. In the fall of 1997, the CMP received its first grant from the US-Mexico Fund for Culture and held it's first video workshop in Ejido Morelia in February, 1998. In 2000, Alexandra co-Directed, Defending the Forests: The Struggle of the Campesino Environmentalists of Guerrero (O.C.E.),with Oaxacan indigenous video maker, Carlos Efrain PÈrez, was an integral part of an international campaign to free two imprisoned O.C.E. members, Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera and raise awareness of the deforestation of Guerrero's virgin forests. She recently co-produced and edited, Reclaiming Justice: Guerrero's Indigenous Community Police. In 1996, Alexandra co-produced the documentary SKIN DEEP, about the contraceptive Norplant, it's distribution and use in poor women in the US. SKIN DEEP has had wide distribution in universities and among women's health organizations and available through Women Make Movies, New York.