MICROCINEMA SESSION 02 Grassroots Argentina
- Time: Wednesday 12 March 5.30pm – 9.00pm
- Venue: Eastside Arts
17:30 THE SECOND CONQUEST La Segunda Conquista
Denali DeGraf & Joao Dujon Pereira, 2007, Argentina, 71mins
Documentary, Spanish w/ English subtitles
At the end of the 19th century, the Argentine Government sent the army to clear Patagonia of its indigenous population for white settlement. A hundred and twenty years later, a similar situation unfolds. A real-estate boom and a growing thirst for extractable resources are forcing the land out of the hands of those who inhabit it and work it, and into the hands of large corporations and wealthy individuals. In the face of massive tourism development and multi-billion dollar mining exploration, small communities in Patagonia renew their struggle to defend and reclaim their land. This resistance is sustained by nothing more and nothing less than a fundamental relationship to the land, compelling us to examine the concepts of power, ownership, and relationships in our own lives, land and society.
Session includes Introduction and Q&A with Director Joao Dujon Pereira
19:00 DREAMING THE FUTURE Soñando el Futuro
Marta N. Bautis, Argentina/USA, 56mins
Documentary, Spanish w/ English subtitles
A journey to the south of Buenos Aires, to grassroots communities where daily life is part of a new culture of resistance. Marginalised neighbourhoods where the communities organise art classes, sewing workshops and musical groups; popular assemblies where new social structures are being developed; road blockades where unemployed workers demand their rights. A journey to places where daily life is part of the struggle, and the struggle becomes a dream of the future.
Session includes Introduction and Q&A with Director Marta N. Bautis
20:00 Post Screening Discussion
In December 2001 Argentinans went to the streets in mass numbers to call for end to systemic corruption within their Government along with the neoliberal policies enforced upon their country by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The country came to a standstill and the majority of the country’s capital was transfered overnight into European bank accounts. Argentinians were unable to access their money and the Peso devalued to a slither of its US dollar pegged value. It was one of the worst economic crisis to hit any one country. Throughout this period we witnessed a resurgence of autonomous communities who have set up micro economies based on the ethics of provision of food and services for the whole of the community. Factories were transfered into workers hands, neighborhood kitchens provided for familys with no income and education and health centre were set up and operated using a barter system. So where is Argentina Today, what sort of culture has the recent socio economic environs produced?
Drawing on two strong documentaries produced in co-operation with grassroots communities and resonating the profound social changes unfolding in Argentina today. This Microcinema session will focus on Argentina’s current social, economic and political situation. Joining in on the discussion, the directors of the films will share their firsthand experiences and knowledge of Argentina today, 7 years on from the powerful ‘Argentinazo’. Abandoning all faith in the system and coining the famous chant ’get them all out’ (the politicians), many communities of Buenos Aires and beyond have been building new social structures providing for themselves the education, food distribution, health and worker protection they lost through years of corrupted governance.
The session will also journey to the south of the country, to Patagonia, where the ongoing struggles of indigenous communities are building momentum. Filmmaker Joao Dujon delivers us his film (The Second Conquest), which traces these communities as they seek justice, and repatriation to their ancestral lands from which over centuries, they have been forcibly removed from. Through the journey of the film, Dujon uncovers the systematic monopolising of Patagonia by foreign companies plundering the land for minerals, large-scale livestock production and more recently, nuclear waste dumping sites. Discussion following the films will centre on the stories depicted in the films and will pull focus on Argentina today, looking through economical and social eyepieces.
Guest Filmmakers Biography
Marta Bautis
Dreaming the Future
Marta Noemí Bautis was born in Argentina and has traveled throughout Latin America as a photojournalist. She is an award winning documentary filmmaker whose videos have been screened at numerous national and international festivals. Ms. Bautis is a faculty member at the School of Contemporary Arts, Ramapo College of New Jersey and founder of Tiempo Azul Productions.
Joao Dujon
The Second Conquest
Joao was born in Melbourne and has travelling extensively throughout the world as a photographer and more recently to Latin America as a Documentary filmmaker.
After traveling through Brazil, Joao Dujon headed to El Bolson, Argentina to research the issue of land rights in Patagonia and the environmental and social implications of the removal of the original peoples at the hand of multinationals and wealthy individuals. Intrigued about the similarities of Argentina and Australia in respect to aboriginal land rights, Joao Dujon produced La Segunda Conquista not only as a document for the people of the region, but to spread the word across borders, and assist in creating solidarity between the indigenous and non indigenous people.
Additional Guest
Raul Bassi
Raul Bassi was born in Argentina and migrated to Australia in 1983. His first political demonstration was against the US invasion of Santo Domingo in 1965. He embraced socialism and anti-imperialism and joined the struggle for working-class and human rights. He was a student leader during the 1966-69 Argentinean dictatorship. After the “El Cordobazo” uprising in 1969 he became a union organiser in Cordoba, organising in the movement that ended the military government in 1973. As a member of the Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores, (PST) was part of the fight against the fascist gangs from 74 to 77 and active organizer against the genocide military junta from 1977.
In Australia he is member of the Socialist Alliance, Australian Venezuela Solidarity Network, (AVSN), Canterbury Bankstown Peace group and TWU delegate. Raul currently is involved with the campaign against the federal government interventions into indigenous communities in the Northern Territory
Chair
Rodrigo Acuña
Rodrigo Acuña is a combined-honours graduate in Politics/International Relations and Spanish/Latin American Studies from the University of New South Wales, Sydney. In 2005, he was awarded the Benchmark Prize in Hispanic Studies by UNSW and was runner up for Open Prose in the Unsweetened 2007 Literary Journal. He writes regularly on Latin American affairs for New Matilda and has been interviewed on SBS Radio (Spanish) and Radio Adelaide among others.
