The 2nd NATIVE SPIRIT FESTIVAL
October 2008 - London

The 2nd Native Spirit Festival

is a season of films and workshops promoting the cultures of indigenous people of the three Americas. This years’ festival will focus on the environment and issues surrounding climate change.

Who we are

Native Spirit Foundation is a non-profit, charitable organisation, which promotes the knowledge and preservation of indigenous cultures of the Three Americas and funds educational resources for young indigenous people.

The founder of The Native Spirit Festival is the artist and filmmaker Freddy Treuquil, a longstanding and prominent member of the indigenous Mapuche community in Chile.

Native Spirit Festival 2007

In June 2007 Native Spirit Festival debuted in London with a weeklong film & video festival focused on the indigenous peoples of the three Americas. The festival, which opened in City Hall to a full house, received invaluable support and fantastic feedback from organisations, the press and the public. During those seven days, screenings took place at a number of venues across the city as well as talks, workshops and performances.

The Festival marked a milestone in the history of film festivals for it was the first time that we saw indigenous people empowered by the camera. It was the first time that we saw the Indigenous worlds of the three Americas portrayed through their eyes and through their voices. The films captured audiences with thought provoking and evocative audio-visual pieces produced by indigenous communities to share with a european public.

The Native Spirit Festival was conceived with the aim of allowing the British public to gain an invaluable insight into the lives of indigenous peoples surviving in the contemporary landscape of the three Americas and to learn from their inspiring stories. As severely under-represented people in the global film and media industries, the festival is seen as a much-needed platform to celebrate and explore indigenous cultures.

Native Spirit Festival 2008

In the last week of October 2008 the 2nd Native Spirit Festival is due to return to London with a week of films, workshops, talks and exhibitions at different venues across the city. Leading figures from a number of different indigenous communities will be travelling to Europe at this time and will come especially to participate in this years’ program.

Again, the festival will offer the British public an awe-inspiring opportunity to glimpse into the worlds of some of the oldest surviving and most marginalised people on this planet; from the Chilean Andes to Arctic Canada. These often over-looked communities are rooted in ancient traditions, cultures and languages, yet are more commonly characterised today by diplacement, conflict and exploitation.

In conjunction with The International Year of Planet Earth, a 2008 international observance declared by the 60th United Nations General Assembly, this year the Native Spirit festival will be paying specific attention to environmental issues surrounding climate change. The proposal from the UN highlights the need of generating dialogue between different people around the World to confront and find global solutions to the serious problems humanity is facing with the environment.
The contribution that the indigenous people of the World can give to the cause is very important and the Native Spirit Festival endevours to promote their story.

Fundraiser Festival

The Native Spirit Festival is a non-profit project, all proceedings made at the festival will go towards the Native Spirit Cinematography Fund, which works to provide equipment and training to indigenous community members to make their own films about their cultural traditions, legends, artwork, and documentary investigations into their daily struggles and human rights issues with the hopes of including selected productions in the program of future Native Spirit Festival.

Educational Program for Children and Youth

The 2nd Native Spirit Film Festival 2008 will be open and accesible particularly towards children and young adults. The festival will bring films and interactive workshops, lead by indigenous figures, to schools, universities and other organisations that work with young people. Activities aimed for children will be free of charge and to accompany the film screenings, a wide variety of free activities will also be available to further entice, educate and entertain.

More than Films
Innovative painting, sculpture and photography exhibitions from indigenous artists will be running during the festival week and there will also be unique musical performances from indigenous groups. Workshops and talks will be held and aim to cover issues such as indigenous rights, the environment, mythology and filmmaking. Along with the exhibitions, performances and activities there will be Indigenous poetry readings and storytelling

Workshop Topics
The subjects covered by the talks, interactive activities and presentations will focus on issues raised by the films but will not be exclusive. They will include:

· Indigenous arts and culture
· The Mayan Calendar
· Environment and substainble living
· The effects of economic globalisation on indigenous communities
· Indigenous cosmology (cosmic knowledge)
· Indigenous Medicine (healing)
· Education in the indigenous communities

This year the festival hopes to welcome some very important guests who will be touring Europe, to participate in the festival workshops. They including representatives from the following communities: Kogi, Mapuche, Maya, Ashuar, Wayuu

Documenting the Festival
Workshops and other festival activities will be audio-visually documented together with other documents to brief and conclude the activities and feedback of this years’ festival.

Context:

a)

The International Year of Planet Earth

is a 2008 international observance, declared by the 60th United Nations General Assembly. The proposal from the UN highlights the need of generating dialogue between different people around the World to confront and find global solutions to the serious problems humanity is facing with the environment.
The contribution that the indigenous people of the World can give to the cause is very important. Under the heading: “Earth Sciencies for Society”, one of the principal aims persued by this UN initiative is to “promote international initiatives to increase awareness of the importance of Earth sciences for the achievement of sustainable development”. And who knows better about the earth if not those who live as part of it?

b)

The struggle against “climate change”

is in part and perhaps mainly down to the way in which the west conducts global industry and unsustainable living, and is a major issue that has come to the forefront of debate in recent years. In 1977 a commitee from the indigenous people of North America (Iroqueses) warned the World at a United Nations Assembly in New York that “the climate systems are changing” due to the “development” of Western societies. Furthermore, the largest “lung” of the planet, the Amazon jungle, has been the worst hit and is being destroyed at an alarming rate due to deforestation and pollutant industries kept alive by a worldwide demand.