The Native Spirit Film & Video Festival of the Indigenous Peoples of the Three Americas 2007 will be the first festival of its kind in the UK, showcasing some outstanding and innovative films about the indigenous peoples of North, South and Central America. This landmark event will take viewers on an unforgettable journey, delving into the most remote and mysterious corners of the Americas, offering the British public a fresh cultural viewpoint and the unique opportunity to learn about some of the world's oldest surviving and most marginalised communities.

This non-profit project is being organised by The Latin American Association (also known as the Latin American House), a community-based charity that supports and promotes the Latin American community living in London. The Native Spirit Festival 2007 is rooted in the aim of providing indigenous peoples of the Americas with a much-needed platform to celebrate and share their cultures and realities with a UK audience, allowing people to gain an invaluable insight into their lives and to learn from their inspiring stories.
From Bolivia to Arctic Canada, films have been carefully selected to create a unique and vibrant programme that represents the cultural richness, diversity and reality of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It will include internationally acclaimed works along with fresh material, many of which has never been screened before in the UK. Highlights include the multi award-winning The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat), an adaptation of the Canadian Inuit peoples' legend of survival, the thought-provoking documentary The Canary Effect that uses beautifully crafted imagery to examine what many people believe is the ongoing genocide of the American Indian, and the powerful Switch Off (Apaga y vamanos) that portrays the struggles of the Pehuenche/Mapuche community in Chile.
Overview of the Festival ( 4- 10th June 2007)
The 7-day festival will take place at a variety of venues across London, including Canning House, Riverside Studios, Instituto Cervantes and Canada House, and will offer the following:
Free entrance for the general public on selected screenings
An educational programme offering free dynamic workshops, talks and screenings at selected local schools
Indigenous filmmakers to participate in Q&A sessions and talks about their work, experience and culture
Free activities including indigenous poetry readings, story-telling, a sculpture exhibition and musical performances from indigenous American artists.
The Latin American Association is working closely with the Film & Video Center of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in New York, and with a number of indigenous and non-indigenous filmmakers from the three Americas to ensure that The Native Spirit Festival 2007 has a vibrant film programme.
The diverse range of films will show how these often overlooked people are rooted in ancient traditions, cultures and languages, yet are more commonly characterised today by displacement, conflict and exploitation. The festival programme will cover important aspects of contemporary indigenous life and highlight issues such as the mutual struggles they face every day, cultural identity, memory, gender, human rights, the environment and mythology.
Above all, it hopes to demonstrate that although indigenous American communities are culturally diverse, they share common beliefs and struggles; most notabley their unique spiritual relationship with the natural world and their struggle to maintain their cultural identity in the face of modernisation and the encroachment of mainstream western culture.
The project's roots
The founder of the Native Spirit Festival 2007 is the artist and filmmaker Freddy Treuquil, a long-standing and prominent member of the indigenous Mapuche community in Chile. Along with extensive experience of working to promote indigenous films and culture, Freddy is the founder of the Mapuche media organisation Kurruf Newentuaiñ and has worked on a number of initiatives to help preserve the Mapuche culture and help promote understanding of their unique lifestyle and visions to those outside their communities.
In 2003 , Freddy participated in the Native American Film & Video Festival in New York, organised by The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian. Inspired by its success and the benefits to both filmmakers and public, Freddy decided that a similar project was needed in Europe. He strongly believes that the unique traditions, beliefs and experience of the indigenous peoples of the Americas are a testament to human spirit and achievement and that others could learn so much from their stories.
The Latin American Association is proud to be organising such an exciting and ground-breaking event. Although the organisation focuses primarily on the Latin American community, it has chosen to support a cultural and educational project that will reflect its ethos of enhancing understanding and promoting social inclusion.The LAA is providing its facilities and limited resources in kind to The Native Spirit Festival Planning Committee, a dedicated team of volunteers. Due to the nature and originality of the event, interest and support for the festival has been widespread. As a charity, The LAA is relying heavily on financial support and contributions in kind and is extremely grateful for any assistence.