Film Comment:
Tambogrande – Mangos, Murder, Mining
Film Partner: FDCL - Center for Research and Documentation Chile-Latin America e.V.
This film is not available in USA, Canada, Belgium, Luxemburg, Netherlands.
Awarded 20 different film prizes, this uplifting documentary chronicles the struggles of small town residents to defend their rights to live and work on land coveted by big business for its resources. When an entire community unites, standing firm and resolute and simply saying “no”, nothing short of brute force can make them leave their homes and land.
Credits
Original Title: Tambogrande – Mangos, Murder, Mining
Language:
Spanish-English original version with German subtitles, Spanish-English original version with English subtitles,
Spanish-English original version,
Spanish-English original version with French subtitles,
Spanish-English original version with Portuguese subtitles
Country of Origin: Peru
Year : 2007
Duration: 85 Min.
Color
Director: Ernesto Cabellos Damián, Stephanie Boyd
Script: Ernesto Cabellos Damián, Stephanie Boyd
Camera: Ernesto Cabellos Damián
Editing: Ernesto Cabellos Damián, Stephanie Boyd, José Balado
Sound: Stephanie Boyd
Sound Mix: José Balado
Music: Somos Tambogrande, José Balado, Martin Choy-Yin, Raúl Gómez
Production: Ernesto & Ricardo Cabbelos Damián, Stephanie Boyd
Festivals: 2008: The Traveling World Community Film Festival, Peterborough, Ontario (CA); 2007: International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Prague (CZ); 1. Festival de Cine Latinoamericano, Oaxaca (MX); 6th Encuentros del Otro Cine, Quito (Ecuador); 4th Green Film Festival International Seoul ; 11th Seoul Human Rights Film Festival (South Korea); Festroia International Film Festival, Sétubal (PT); 9th International Festival of Environmental Film and Video, Goiania (BR); 11th Festival Latinoamericano de Cine en Lima; El Cinematografo de Barranco, Lima (Peru); PSBT Festival - Open Frame, New Delhi (India); Calgary International Film Festival (CA); 2nd Festival Internacional de Cine Documental de la Ciudad de México; XXIV Festival de Cine de Bogotá (Colombia); 52nd Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid (E); VI Muestra Documental Independiente Peruano, Lima, Andahuaylas, Ayacucho, Cuzco (Peru); Festival des Libertés, Brussels (B); 26th Global Visions Film Festival, Edmonton (CA); International Documentary Film Festival One World Slovakia, Bratislava (SL); 21st Leeds International Film Festival, Leeds (UK); South to South Film Festival, Jakarta (Indonesia); 12th Amnesty International Film Festival, Vancouver (CA); Squarci di Cinema Latinoamericano III, Rome (I); One World Berlin (D); Eleventh Hour Festival of Films about Climate Change and Development, Helsinki (FI); VI Festival Internacional Tres Continentes del Documental, Caracas (Venezuela); Le Festival International du Film D'Environnement, Paris; Amnesty International Toronto Human Rights Film Festival, Toronto (CA); II Mostra Cinema e Direitos Humanos na América do Sul, Sao Paulo (BR); 2006: IDFA Amsterdam (NL)
Awards: 2008: Special Mention, 1. Festival of Spanish and Latin American Cinema; Special Jury Award, Youth Jury Award, Audience Award, 10th Encounters of South American Cinema, Marseille (F); Fábrica de Cine Award, Special Jury Award, Special Mention, X International Festival of Cinema of Human Rights, Buenos Aires (AR); Honorable Mention in the category 'Science and Ecology”, 2nd Festival de la Memoria: Iberoamerican Film Documentary, Tepoztlan, Morelos (MX); The Nile of Silver Award, 2nd The Nile International Festival for Environmental Films, Cairo (Egypt); Honorable Mention in the 1st. Contest 'Otras Miradas', Presentation of Latin American Documentaries, Buenos Aires (AR); Special Mention, 4th Human Rights International Film Festival, Sucre (Bolivia); 2007: Award International Festival Dignity & Work, Gdanks (PL); Special Jury Award, 34th Jornada Internacional de Cinema da Bahía (BR); Union Latina Prize from Special Youth Jury, XXII Festival del cinema Latino Americano, Trieste (I); Le Soleil Tournant Award, 4th Festival du Cinéma Péruvien, Paris (F)
narrated by: Stephanie Boyd
The Center for Research and Documentation Chile-Latin America e.V. (FDCL) is an information and communication center for people and groups who wish to learn more about Latin America or get involved with Latin America related issues. The FDCL has been in existence since 1974 and is well-known far beyond the borders of Berlin.
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About the Film
The hard work and dedication
of pioneering farmers transformed the arid lands of Tambogrande in northwestern Peru into an agricultural paradise, a Garden of Eden. Over the generations, the residents of this small town aquired not only a great love of farming but also great respect for the land. As Isabel de Morales, a farmer, mother, and grandmother puts it: “I love my plants as though they are my children... I'll die, but the land will remain... it will exist forever... it's our bread, our mother, to live off and eat.”
For the inhabitants of Tambogrande, the mango is the source of their sustenance.
However,
Tambogrande's citizens didn't realize that their homes were sitting, literally, atop a goldmine. Tests done in the mid-1990's by a Canadian mining company (who purchased rights to the underground minerals in the region) discovered that the town was built on a rich vein of gold and other precious metals. Plunking down a mine in the midst of this farming community would spell the loss of land and livelihood for its citizens. Not only would residents have to sell their property, but the healthy environment - the ground, water, flora and fauna - would suffer the contamination common to all mining operations.
What ensued was a toe to toe battle
What ensued was a toe to toe battle that pitted Tambogrande's small fruit farmers against a wealthy foreign mining company that was backed by Peru's powerful mining industry and top politicians. The film's producers and directors Ernesto Cabellos and Stephanie Boyd even moved to Tambogrande to document the broad civil resistance to the mine and the long years of confrontation between farmer and mining interests. Their film is an intensely moving account of this struggle.
The village strikes back.
Quotes:
The late Godofredo Garcia Baca, Agronomist and community leader (+March, 31, 2001)Mankind's basic needs are food, clothing and housing. There is no public necessity called 'gold.' There is no public necessity called 'copper.' No one lives on gold or copper. People live by eating food, and that's what humanity needs.
Isabel de Morales, Farmer, mother, grandmother
I'm not leaving. We'll struggle and struggle until God says, 'Now your fight is finished.' If I die the land will be there for my grandchildren, for their children and so on and that's something that will last forever.
Segundo Palacios, Farmer In the countryside, we put everything we have in the cooking pot. But we'll never put gold and silver in the pot.
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