The winter in North America is the dry season in Panama. For Wounaan communities on the Pacific Coast of Panama’s Darien, the dry season means a high-stakes conflict with illegal loggers invading their land and stripping their forests. The 2012 logging season was the worst in history for the three Wounaan communities of Rio Hondo, Platanares and Maje. Hundreds of acres of pristine tropical forest were lost, rivers were destroyed, downstream communities starved and violent conflict left the leader of Platanares dead.
This winter a production team led by Cameron Ellis and Ian Bell will be heading to Panama to document the 2013 logging season from the eyes of the Wounaan people, capturing the conflict over their land and telling the stories of the individuals in these remote communities.
Our goal is to raise awareness of this conflict and apply pressure to a Panamanian government that has kept kept it’s neglect of indigenous populations under the radar, while selling the country off to foreign expats, profiteers and narcos.
Cameron is an anthropologist and map maker. Cameron works with the Wounaan people through the NGO Native Future (www.nativefuture.org), mapping their lands in an effort to help the Wounaan gain legal title to their communities. Ian is a social scientist and filmmaker who has spent the last few years telling the stories of small non-profits around the world through film. They have come together to work on this project because of the urgency of the conflict and the extraordinary people whose tropical forest home is being decimated.
Capturing the 2013 logging season will require getting a film crew on the ground in Panama three times.
The first trip will capture the communities as they emerge from the rainy season and prepare to defend their communities from invasion. We will also use this trip to introduce viewers to the conflict and the Wounaan people; expand on the story of the 2012 logging season and the devastation that took the life Wounaan tribal leader, Arquilio Opua; and tell the incredible story of the first native born Wounaan lawyer, Leonides Quiroz. This first trip will result in the short film, referred to in the rewards.
The second trip will occur mid-season, once the battle lines have been drawn and the loggers' invasion strategy (both on the ground and in the local political theater) begins to unfold.
The third trip will occur toward the end of the logging season, capturing the aftermath, as well as the tragedies and triumphs along the way.
Each trip will result in video, maps, and photographs. They will be serialized and released throughout the season, culminating at the end of the conflict season in a feature documentary.
The total budget for primary production is roughly $20,000, but in this fundraising campaign we are hoping to secure the funds for the first trip. With $4,500 in hand we will be able to get the production team to Panama, travel to the tribal areas, and capture the footage needed for the piece.
Your donation will go directly toward getting the film crew on the ground and filming. Our time and equipment will be donated or covered from other sources. Our work will also be supported by other individuals and organizations, adding value to your donation - including a helicopter flyover of the conflict area, which has already been generously donated.
The Breakdown -
4 person team
Air Travel - estimated $700 per person - $2,800
In-country Travel $600
Food - $900
Emergency Medical Insurance - $200
Total - $4,500
Though additional funds will be needed to finish the project, the first trip is the most critical to get this effort moving.
Your support will not go without reward! We will return from Panama with amazing Wounaan jagua face paint, crafts and beautiful hand-woven baskets! Wounaan baskets are known as some of the finest in the world (http://michaelsmithgallery.com/gallery/wounaan). Offering Wounaan crafts as a reward for the support you provide allows your gift to this production to contribute to the community on two levels. First, monies will go directly to the craftspeople for the works they have created. Second, your contribution will enable the production team to provide an avenue of awareness through film. Please look over the rewards we have listed and make your contribution.
This is a new approach to intervening and documenting an ongoing indigenous rights conflict. If we are successful, this will be a groundbreaking new arrow in the quiver of human rights activism around the globe - and you will be a part of it.
So please consider supporting this project. Please spread the word. Send this URL to all your friends and like this project on Facebook. We can't wait to send you the link to the finished film; we can't wait to hear your thoughts and feedback on the finished production; and we can't wait to introduce you to Leonides Quiroz and all the other beautiful people working to end this conflict.
Thank you so much for your time and support.
