Daughter of the Lake
Spanish with English subtitles.
Nélida, a young Indigenous Andean woman, has the ability to speak with spirits of the water, and thus she feels a deep responsibility to defend the pristine lakes that surround her home. She is studying to be a lawyer in Lima so that she can help her community. However before she can finish, a gold deposit valued in the millions is found under her village; the extraction will surely threaten the surrounding waters of her community and she must summon up all her powers to stop the mining. Paired with other stories in the gold mining trade, from the Dutch jewellery designer Bibi van der Velden to stories from communities in Bolivia, this stunning documentary makes a powerful statement on the human cost of gold and what people are doing to raise awareness about its impacts. (adapted from notes by Heather Haynes, Hot Docs)
“Mother Water... what should we do to take care of you so that they leave you in peace?” Nélida Ayay Chilón
Nélida es una mujer de los Andes que conoce y conversa con los espíritus del agua. Bajo la laguna que se ha contactado como su madre, yace un rico depósito de oro que seduce a la minera más grande de Sudamérica. Con sus facultades, Nélida y los campesinos que temen quedarse sin agua, enfrentan a la gran industria que ha amenazado por siglos a los pueblos Andinos.
Preceded by:
ASHES (Cha | Cenizas)
Guatemala, 2015
Q'eqchi with English subtitles / 14 min
Director: Carla Molina
Margarita and a group of families decide to return to their community—Lote 8—to defend their land and reclaim their lives, seven years after a violent eviction.
Ernesto Cabellos Damián (b. 1969, Lima, Peru) founded Guarango in 1994, a documentary filmmakers association. He produced and directed Choropampa (2002) and Tambogrande (2007), and produced The Devil Operation (2010) in collaboration with Canadian director Stephanie Boyd. These award-winning films chronicle over 10 years of conflict between communities and mining companies in Peru.
Credits:
Director/Writer: Ernesto Cabellos Damián
Producer: Nuria Frigola Torrent
Cinematographers: Carlos Sánchez Giraldo, Jessica Steiner, Miguel Hilari Sölle
Editor: Antolín Prieto
Composer: Martín Choy-Yin
Narrator: Nélida Ayay Chilón