Choropampa: 10 Years After the Accident - A Report

David Vollrath has reported on his experiences during a year long residency in  Cajamarca  in Northern Peru in this blog post: Water Samples: Tests and  Real. His year abroad is now past. Last June he spend a few days in Choropampa. You can read his report in German here.

PS: The whole water sample thing ended up (at least for now) in what could be called an absurd typically Peruvian-Corporate style  | For more information in German Lateinamerika Nachrichten, Nummer 431 - Mai 2010)

Belo Monte Dam: What will happen to the Amazon if …

… the 3rd largest dam in the world is built on the Xingu River in Brazil. Watch, Take Action and Share.

Plus: Check out this informative (Google Earth based) map: Dams in the Amazon

Marco Arana nimmt Aachener Friedenspreis 2010 entgegen

Congratulations to Marco Arana. Today he will accept the International human rights award in Aachen.

FIRST STEPS: Best Documentary

FIRST STEPS Award 2010 in the Documentary category was awarded yesterday evening:

“Ein Sommer voller Türen” (A Summer Full of Doors) directed by Stefan Ludwig, from the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film in Munich.

The jury’s comments: The camera is reserved but gets in close to the young people who collect money for a charity organization by doing door to door ‘charity mugging’. The film follows them as they convince an embittered and ill-tempered pensioner to donate money and end up ripping him off. Some of the kids are proud and satisfied with themselves when they get people to give them money. While some of the kids are self-critical and doubtful about the ties between collecting money and earning money. The film addresses the subject without making any moral commentary. In the end, it’s the relentlessly neutral camera that prompts questions about what this money grabbing means for the kids’ lives and for our society as a whole when the manager of the sales team praises his sellers because their work keeps a large part of our social system alive. The film deals intimately with these questions without forcing the characters to do the talking for it.

Myths from the Depths of College Graduates

What happens when a whole slew of recent art school graduates with little to no employment get together to make a film? Flames, theatrics, and inspiring uses of recycled materials, to name a few. An independent film being produced and shot in Connecticut, headed by Olivia Obin, Mooning Over Earth will explore themes of nature, myth, and interchangeability. (more…)