Arts & Culture
Filmmaker Francesco Taboada Tabone presents his documentary work to University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point students and faculty Tuesday night, Nov. 11.
Filmmaker brings political and social issues close to home
The Pointer
lgern177@uwsp.edu
This Tuesday, Nov. 11, filmmaker Francesco Taboada Tabone held a presentation in the Noel Fine Arts Center on his latest documentary, “13 pueblos en defensa del agua, del aire y de la tierra” (“13 Indigenous Peoples Defending Their Water, Air, and Land”).
The film chronicles citizens from 13 Morelos villages and their struggle against environmental degradation from human misuse and industrial and commercial projects.
Tabone, who was born in Cuernavaca, Morelos, received the Rigoberta Mench (1992 Nobel laureate) prize for this political outcry, as well as the “Panel of Judges’ Special Prize” at the Los Angeles International Latino Film Festival.
According to Tabone, when the Mexican government signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, transnational companies began urbanizing some of Mexico’s most ecologically diverse lands.
These attempts came at the expense of the indigenous people who farmed the land as a means of survival.
To keep from plummeting into poverty under this new system, Tabone said, they had three choices—joining guerilla forces, drug trafficking or immigration.
Instead, these 13 pueblos, or villages, led by a Council of Elders, joined forces and begun protesting. Especially incendiary to them is the government’s attempt to use the river Apatlaco for commercial purposes.
According to Tabone, these issues, while not well known, are a harbinger of events to come.
Underlining this idea is a quote in the beginning of the film, which reads, “In the future, our wars will be over water, not oil. In Mexico, that war has already begun. ”
Tabone said he feels he has a strong social obligation to communicate these problems before they get too large.
Though the pueblos are aware of the issues, they need a platform to convey them.
Cinema, Tabone said, is the platform he uses to instigate a grassroots change throughout the wider community.
“Los pueblos have a strong oral tradition,” he said. “We have to promote this knowledge throughout communities. You will never find this kind of movies in commercial theaters in Mexico or the United States. But you will find this kind of movie on a small street projected on blankets.”
He said the biggest problem he faces in his work is censorship, as the Mexican government does not allow the public to view most of his films. According to Tabone, most of his films politically counteract the mass media, which is in the government’s pocket.
“The mass media is not honest with the people, that’s why we have a responsibility,” he said. “We have very low budget films, so we don’t have a lot of cinematic intentions. It’s more about making people aware, socially and politically.”
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point students like Lauren Martin, an interior architecture major, said she thought the presentation was an eye-opening event.
“It’s great they brought this here to Stevens Point,” she said. “It’s just opening our eyes up to another culture that we wouldn’t otherwise know about. There are people everywhere with problems larger than ours.”
