Iara Lee

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Iara Lee (Ponta Grossa, Brazil, 1966) is a Brazilian film producer, director and activist of Korean descent who works mainly in the Middle East and Africa. Her documentary films include Unite for Bissau (Nô Kumpu Guiné)[1] (2023), From Trash to Treasure: Turning Negatives into Positives[2] (2020), Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse[3] (2020), Wantoks: Dance of Resilience in Melanesia[4] (2019), Burkinabè Rising: The Art of Resistance in Burkina Faso[5][6] (2018), Burkinabè Bounty: Agroecology in Burkina Faso[7] (2018), Life Is Waiting: Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara[8] (2015), K2 and the Invisible Footmen[9] (2015), The Kalasha and the Crescent (2013), The Suffering Grasses (2012), Cultures of Resistance (2010), Beneath the Borqa in Afghanistan (2002), Architettura (1999), Modulations: Cinema for the Ear (1998), Synthetic Pleasures (1995), and An Autumn Wind (1994). In 2010, Lee was involved in the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla," where nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed by Israeli naval forces and many were injured.

Lee is the founder of the Cultures of Resistance Network Foundation (formerly named the Caipirinha Foundation) and a longtime supporter of Greenpeace International, Amnesty International, Center for Constitutional Rights, Committee to Protect Journalists, and Doctors Without Borders, among many other organizations.[10]

Film career[edit]

From 1984 to 1989, Lee was the producer of the São Paulo International Film Festival in Brazil.[11] From 1989 to 2003, while based in New York, she ran the mixed-media company Caipirinha Productions to explore the synergy of different artforms (such as film, music, architecture, and poetry). Under that banner, Iara has directed short and feature-length documentaries including Synthetic Pleasures, Modulations, Architettura, and Beneath the Borqa. Synthetic Pleasures, released in 1995, deals with the impact of high technology on mass culture. The multimedia project Modulations, released in 1998, traces the evolution of electronic music. Her next film was Beneath the Borqa, a 2000 short documentary film about the lives of women and children under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.[12]

In 2010, Lee directed the feature-length documentary film, Cultures of Resistance, which celebrates creative acts of political struggle. The film debuted in its final form late in 2010, after which it screened at many film festivals, including the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, and won numerous awards.[13][14][15][16] Notably, the film was screened at the Beijing International Film Festival in 2011, defying the norms in a country where political resistance is rarely depicted in the media.[17]

Lee's subsequent projects include a short film, The Kalasha and the Crescent (2013), on the ways that the Kalash indigenous people of northern Pakistan are responding to the challenges facing their culture; and a documentary entitled The Suffering Grasses: when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers,[18] (2012) which explores the Syrian conflict from the perspective of the civilians who have been displaced to refugee camps. The Suffering Grasses came out of footage taken during Lee's participation in a press delegation to Turkish refugee camps housing Syrians in exile.[19][20]

In 2015, Lee released K2 and the Invisible Footmen (2015),[9] which documents the unsung efforts of the indigenous porters who for decades have facilitated the ascent of the Earth's second-highest mountain. That same year, she released Life Is Waiting: Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara (2015)[21], a documentary that chronicles the everyday violence of life under occupation in Western Sahara. In 2018, she released two films about Burkina Faso: Burkinabè Rising: The Art of Resistance in Burkina Faso[5] (2018) and Burkinabè Bounty: Agroecology in Burkina Faso[7] (2018). She followed these with Wantoks: Dance of Resilience in Melanesia[4] (2019), a documentary profiling the artists and activists in Melanesia who are fighting for self-determination while trying to defend their homes against the rising sea.

In 2020, she released a full-length documentary entitled Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse[3] (2020), which examines the underground culture of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, three decades after the world's most infamous nuclear disaster. Later that year, she released From Trash to Treasure: Turning Negatives into Positives[2] (2020), which showcases a spirit of reimagination among artists in Lesotho. She also launched a short film series called Dispatches from Malawi,[22] starting with a music video for "Better Must Come," a song by Ishan Cyapital featuring Teebz. "Better Must Come" gives voice to popular dissatisfaction with corruption and denounces government apathy about the urgent problems facing countries like Malawi.

In 2023, she released a documentary entitled Unite for Bissau (Nô Kumpu Guiné): agroecology and feminism in Guinea Bissau, which documents local women in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau who challenge patriarchy by building institutions that promote self-sufficiency through agroecology.[23]

Activism[edit]

In 2008, Lee traveled to Iran and supported a number of cultural exchange projects between that country and the West, with the goal of promoting arts and culture for global solidarity. For example, she helped produce Iranian rapper Hichkas' "Ye Mosht Sarbaz (A Bunch of Soldiers)" music video,[24] which was directed and edited by Fred Khoshtinat.[25]

Lee has also actively supported indigenous and civil society campaigns to prevent the construction of the Belo Monte mega-dam on the Xingu river, a major tributary of the Amazon in Brazil. According to the California-based nonprofit International Rivers, the dam project threatens to displace over 20,000 people, destroy an extensive area of the Brazilian rainforest, and endanger indigenous tribes that depend on the river for their survival.[26] In 2009, Lee released a short film about the dam controversy, Battle for the Xingu, in conjunction with groups such as International Rivers.[27]

In 2020, Lee launched the Cultures of Resistance Awards, aimed at supporting creative activism, artistic expression, and other socially minded-endeavors, particularly in the global South. As of 2024, more than 200 awards have been distributed.[28]

Gaza flotilla[edit]

In 2010, Lee participated in the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla," where nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed by Israeli naval forces and many were injured. Her footage of the event was released in a press conference at the United Nations in June 2010.[29][30]

Filmography[edit]

  • Dispatches from Malawi[22] (2020), short film series
  • From Trash to Treasure: Turning Negatives into Positives[2] (2020)
  • Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse[3] (2020)
  • Wantoks: Dance of Resilience in Melanesia[4] (2019)
  • Burkinabè Bounty: Agroecology in Burkina Faso[7] (2018), short film
  • Burkinabè Rising: The Art of Resistance in Burkina Faso[5] (2018), feature documentary
  • The Kalasha and the Crescent (2013), short film
  • The Suffering Grasses (2012), feature documentary
  • Cultures of Resistance (2010), feature documentary[31]
  • Battle for the Xingu (2009), short film[32][33]
  • Modulations: Cinema for the Ear (1998), feature documentary
  • Synthetic Pleasures (1995), feature documentary
  • Unite for Bissau (Nô Kumpu Guiné): agroecology and feminism in Guinea Bissau (2023), short film[34]

Interviews[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Saturday Matinees Unite for Bissau". indyfilmlibrary.com. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
  2. ^ a b c "Lessons from Lesotho". Beyond Nuclear International. 2020-09-28. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  3. ^ a b c Ings, Simon. "A strange mix of people keep sneaking into Chernobyl". New Scientist. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  4. ^ a b c "Dancing with activism: "Wantoks: Dance of Resilience in Melanesia" | Winter Film Awards". 2020-02-09. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  5. ^ a b c "10 African Films That Deal With Protest Culture & History". Young Afrikan. 2020-10-27. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  6. ^ "Can art bring a political change? Iara Lee discusses 'Burkinabe Rising'". Winter Film Awards. 2018-02-04. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
  7. ^ a b c "Women filmmakers section features 28 films". New Age. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  8. ^ "Morocco: New Film About Western Sahara Resistance Produced". AllAfrica.
  9. ^ a b "Tidbits - May 14, 2015 - TPP; Stop-and-Frisk; White Americans and Police Accountability; Vietnam ,Debating the War; Remembering Jackson State Murders; more..." Portside. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  10. ^ "Greenpeace Annual Report 2009" (PDF). Greenpeace.org.
  11. ^ Orton, Karen (2012-08-18). "Q&A / Politics: Iara Lee". Dazed and Confused.
  12. ^ "MetroActive Movies | Iara Lee". Metroactive.com. Retrieved 2012-01-31.
  13. ^ "Tiburon International Film Festival". Tiburonfilmfestival.com. 2011-04-15. Retrieved 2012-01-31.
  14. ^ "5th Annual International Red Rock Film Festival — Southern Utah". Redrockfilmfestival.com. Retrieved 2012-01-31.
  15. ^ "2011 Atlanta Underground Film Festival Awards - Be a part of the 2012 AUFF - film festival submissions accepted now!". Auff.org. Retrieved 2012-01-31.
  16. ^ "Cultures of Resistance Awards". Caipirinha Productions.
  17. ^ "BBC - World Service the Strand Archive - 11/10/2011". The Strand. BBC World Service. Retrieved 2011-10-11.
  18. ^ Certo, Peter (2013-08-30). "The Suffering Grasses: Remembering the Other Syria". Foreign Policy in Focus.
  19. ^ Saleh, Tariq. "Cineasta brasileira retrata desespero em campo de refugiados sírios". BBC Brasil.
  20. ^ "The Suffering Grasses - Iara Lee". Frontline Club.
  21. ^ Sahara Press Service (El Aaiun) (2015-03-17). "Morocco: New Film About Western Sahara Resistance Produced". allAfrica.com. Retrieved 2015-12-24.
  22. ^ a b "Politically conscious Music from Malawi". Consciousness.co.za Magazine. 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  23. ^ "UNITE FOR BISSAU: AGROECOLOGY AND FEMINISM IN GUINEA BISSAU". winterfilmawards.com. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
  24. ^ "Hich Kas: Bunch of Soldiers and Beyond". Cultures of Resistance. Archived from the original on 2014-03-27. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
  25. ^ "Persian's Underground Cinematic Arts : About us". Puca.ir. Archived from the original on 2009-12-21. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
  26. ^ "Belo Monte Dam". International Rivers.
  27. ^ "Battle for the Xingu". International Rivers.
  28. ^ "Karbi Youth Festival honoured with Cultures of Resistance 2023 Award". assamtribune.com. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
  29. ^ Siddique, Haroon. "Gaza flotilla attack: activist releases new footage". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  30. ^ Pearson, Erica. "Tribeca filmmaker, activist Iara Lee takes viewers within Israeli raid on Gaza flotilla". New York Daily News.
  31. ^ "Director Iara Lee". Cultures of Resistance. Retrieved 2012-01-31.
  32. ^ "UNAFF 2009: Battle for the Xingu". Unaff.org. Retrieved 2012-01-31.
  33. ^ "Battle for the Xingu | 2009 Starz Denver Film Festival | Iara Lee | USA". Denverfilm.org. Retrieved 2012-01-31.
  34. ^ "Saturday Matinees Unite for Bissau". indyfilmlibrary.com. Retrieved 2024-02-19.

External links[edit]

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