Community Support Program
Where Festival Proceeds Go:
The Sydney Latin American Film Festival’s
Community Support Program
The Sydney Latin American Film Festival Inc. (SLAFF) is a not-for-profit association which is committed to promoting and supporting the efforts of development organisations in Latin America, and building awareness of important social issues in the region through its Community Support Program.
Funds raised from ticket sales at the Festival are injected back into development projects across Latin America. So, when you purchase your ticket you are directly contributing to the growth and empowerment of communities across the Pacific.
This year, the Sydney Latin American Film Festival is proud to continue its contribution to a variety of pioneering, grassroots organisations. The Community Support Program of the 3rd Sydney Latin American Film Festival has selected three very worthwhile organisations as recipients of financial support in 2008…
AYNI – Peru
ARTE ACCIÓN COPÁN RUINAS – Honduras
FUNDACIÓN NUEVA VIDA – El Salvador
You can contact these organisations through their websites if you are interested in providing your services as a volunteer or to make a personal donation. Your support will be infinitely rewarded!
AYNI
Location: Alto de los Mores – Piura, Peru
Ayni was established in 2001 and works together with the rural community of Alto de los More in Peru to alleviate some of the major barriers of extreme poverty for indigenous Peruvians.
Ayni’s projects are continually evolving and always place emphasis on education. They organize english classes, women’s development projects, as well as workshops in the local school on various issues including health, nutrition, safety, domestic violence and vocational opportunities.
Ayni’s other development projects focus on sustainable agriculture and farming, such maintaining the Tamarind tree orchard and vegetable garden, as well as a micro-credit loans program aimed at providing viable development opportunities for the community.
SLAFF’s donation will be used by Ayni to fund the Healthy Kitchens Project, which aims to replace the standard open pit fires that pose a threat to householders and children with economical adobe mud brick stoves, for 85-90 families. The project will also help create jobs in the local community and reduce the amount of timber used for for combustion. Concurrent projects that will benefit from SLAFF funding are an emergency medical fund, maintenance of the school and the playground, and the development of the school library.
ARTE ACCIÓN COPÁN RUINAS
Location: Copán Ruinas, Honduras
Arte Acción Copán Ruinas was founded in 1999 and is a Honduran non-profit organisation that coordinates cultural activities for young people in the region of Copán Ruinas. Through various forms of artistic and cultural expression, including painting, video, photography, drama and mural creation, the children of Copán Ruinas gain a deeper understanding of various social issues in the region such as the protection of the environment, children’s rights and their roles as creative members of their community,
SLAFF’s donation to Arte Acción Copán Ruinas will go toward a series of Film-Story projects in rural Maya communities, as well as the professionalization of the Honduras’ only children’s television program Mini-Mundo. The children’s television show Mini-Mundo, produced by Arte Acción, is the only children’s program produced in Honduras. It is a entertaining and informative program that promotes creativity and constructivism. Arte Acción have been invited to broadcast this pioneering project on a national level and will use funds from SLAFF to further develop this project.
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FUNDACIÓN NUEVA VIDA
Location: San Salvador, El Salvador
The mission of Fundación Nueva Vida is to support and shelter homeless children and youth at-risk in the Municipality of Ciudad Delgado in San Salvador. This is undertaken by relocating children from the dangerous situation of the street, as well as the provision of programs in the areas of nutrition, psychological and physical well-being, sports and recreation, art and culture, learning and development, with a focus on providing a nurturing, supportive environment to children as well as their extended families. Participants in the various programs range in ages from 3 to 25 years old. The assistance provided by Nueva Vida reaches approximately 200 children and young adults per year.
Funds donated from SLAFF in 2008 with go toward a project named Casa de Encuentro, which is a shelter for homeless children. In this environment, Nueva Vida seek to protect and uphold the rights of vulnerable children, including the right to education, shelter, health, nutrition, recreation, and the right not to work. Nueva Vida aims to ensure that these children have a place where they are free to express their thoughts and feelings. It is a place where they will come to know the meaning of safety and protection, and where a child may regain a sense of their youth.
Organisations that received proceeds from the 2007 Sydney Latin American Film Festival
Thank you to everyone who attended the Festival and supported our efforts. This year we raised a total of $10,980. This amount was divided amongst three organizations: SLASA (Sydney), the Llushin River Rainforest Conservation Project (Ecuadorian Amazon), and A Roof for my Country (Uruguay). Each of these organizations will receive $3,660 each.
Un Techo Para Mi País (A Roof For My Country)
The Uruguayan organisation “Un Techo Para Mi País” (A Roof For My Country) provides construction of emergency housing for families living in a situation of poverty, and also creates a space for real interaction between the organisation’s volunteers and the families which they assist. They also develop integral programs of social development in areas such as education, micro-credit, job training and community development.
The mission of “Un Techo Para Mi País” is to foster a social conscience and the spirit of solidarity through volunteer work, bringing together young volunteers and families in need in a bid to defeat extreme poverty in Latin America.
Un Techo Para Mi País describe themselves as: “a dynamic institution comprised of young people who refuse to ignore the realities in our region. We hold the conviction that a more fair world is possible, and beyond observations and conversations, we are willing to do whatever it takes to change the face of Latin America, a continent riddled with inequality. We strive to integrate all sectors of society, focusing on the constant struggle against poverty, injustice, and the lack of opportunity. We are young people who are finally taking action throughout Latin America and we will not allow the poor to keep waiting.”
Tropical Rainforest Coalition
The Sydney Latin American Film Festival will be contributing to the Tropical Rainforest Coalition’s “Save an Acre” land purchase project in the Ecuadorian Amazon. This projects purchases pockets of the Llushlin River Rainforest in a buffer zone bordering the Sangay National Park. This project aims to serve the dual purpose of protecting this precious natural region whilst enabling indigenous Amazanga peoples to live out their traditional culture in an interdependent relationship with the ecology.
The Llushin River valley is 95% covered in primary rainforest home to a wide array of wildlife and endangered species. The area is full of salt licks where birds abound, including many kinds of parrots, military macaws, kinkajous, and olingos. Tapirs, Andean spectacled bears, puma and even jaguars call this their home. The forest is exquisite, at the base of the Andes, teeming with huge trees, epiphytes, orchids, and rich with a variety of rare palms.
During the agricultural reform the government gave this land to colonists and the indigenous people lost their ancestral home. Now it is being sold to corporations whose interests are in timber, oil and gold mining. The Tropical Rainforest Coalition aims to purchase this land and return it to the Amazon’s indigenous peoples. The land will be purchased for and in the name of the Kicshuar Community of Amazanga under a perpetual land trust, which declares the area intangible to exploitation of any kind. To date Grupo Osanimi have purchased 1,250 hectares of ‘saved’ rainforest and are looking for funding to purchase three more parcels of rainforest, thus formalizing an indigenous run biological reserve – a model conservation project for Ecuador.
The documentary “Amazanga Kausai: The Llushin River Valley ConservationProject” will be featured at the SLAFF Micro-Cinema sessions at the Seymour Theatre.
The NSW Spanish-Latin American Association for Social Assistance (SLASA) is an independent, not for profit community association, which acts on behalf of the various Spanish and Latin-American communities in NSW. The philosophy of SLASA is one of access and equity, with an emphasis on education, support and the provision of information.
SLASA acts as a resource and coordinating centre for information to the spanish-speaking community in NSW providing its services free of charge to clients, regardless of their nationality, religion, social or political background, or membership to the organisation.
SLASA provides a number of services to Sydney’s spanish speaking communities, which include direct services (casework) and community development. It’s assistance extends to issues such as health, education, welfare and law, immigrant and refugee settlement, aged care, and prevention of domestic violence. SLASA also organises information sessions on issues affecting the community, and runs support groups and training programs for women, older people and the youth.
SLASA also runs youth camps three times a year and is in the process of establishing a drop-in centre for spanish speaking youth in the Fairfield area. The donation from the Sydney Latin American Film Festival’s 2007 Community Sponsorship Program will go toward expanding the activities SLASA is currently running for young people.
Organisations that received proceeds from the 2006 Sydney Latin American Film Festival
The 2006 Sydney Latin American Film Festival (SLAFF) donated $8000 as part of our Community Sponsorship Program. The projects that benefited from the 2006 festival proceeds are Books for a Better World, Building New Hope and Cine Insurgente. These Latin American based grassroots organisationsare committed to providing sustainable solutions to social issues across the continent. Our donations have been specifically directed into each organisation to assist in the proliferation of community education and awareness.
In 2005, SLAFF teamed up with Groundwork International Foundation, a dynamic Sydney-based fundraising network. Groundwork International Foundation is a charity that provides support to children and communities across the globe, and particularly in Latin America. Groundwork’s first hand experience working with such organisations provides SLAFF with significant insight and guidance into the organisations we support. Visit www.groundworkfoundation.org for further information.
Books for a Better World
Literacy is the dedicated purpose of Books for a Better World. Books for a Better World, a non-profit organisation, provides books to schools and libraries in rural communities throughout Central and South America with the mission to enfranchise, empower and motivate children through reading, establishing libraries and scholarship programs. Working in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Peru, Books for a Better World are establishing libraries in remote communities and providing education scholarships to impoverished children. With over 70 sites in different countries, 20,000 children annually are provided with imaginative stories, beautiful pictures and often times their first insight into the world of books.
Books for a Better World received a donation of AUD$3500 from The Sydney Latin American Film Festival to assist in the development of their amazing initiatives.
Building New Hope
Building New Hope is a non-profit organisation working in Central America. Their projects focus on basic education & literacy, vocational programs and health services for children and young people living in poverty. Proceeds from the festival will be directed into one of Building New Hope’s newest projects: the Cineastas de Granada program.
Las Cineastas de Granada is a small film and video production school for teenagers in Granada, Nicaragua. The program is offered at no charge to low-income teens. It includes courses in beginning through advanced film and video production, including writing, directing, cinematography, sound and editing. The mission of Cineastas de Granada is to help young Nicaraguan women gain access to the film medium, to bring their stories out of the isolation of the personal realm into the collective life of Nicaragua and the world, while learning technical skills and building confidence in their abilities.
The Cineastas de Granada were the very grateful recipients of a donation of AUD$3500 to help with the purchase of essential items so that these young filmmakers may have their voices heard loud and proud!
www.buildingnewhope.org
www.cinegranada.org
Cine Insurgente
Proceeds from the festival in 2006 also went to assist Cine Insurgente in the post production of the documentary YAIPOTA ÑANDE IGÜI-(QUEREMOS NUESTRA TIERRA). The film speaks of the struggle of the Guaraní Community in the north of Argentina to recuperate and protect their ancestral lands. The film will form part of the 2008 Sydney Latin American Film Festival program.
Cine Insurgente received a donation of AUD$1000 from SLAFF to assist in the production of this important documentary.
