10 · 09 · 07

 “LAS CÁMARAS DE LA DIVERSIDAD (Diversity Cameras)” Foro de los pueblos indígenas (Indigenous People Forum)

Clara Sánchez/ Translated by Vicente Castañar

Fréderic Vacheron, special programmer for Culture at UNESCO’s Oficina Regional de Cultura Latinoamericana y el Caribe (Regional Office for Latinamerican and Caribbean Cultures), presented the program called “Las cámaras de la diversidad en el marco del Foro de los Pueblos Indígenas” (The Cameras of Diversity at the Indigenous People Forum). This forum’s objective is to spread the native community’s work worldwide.
 
Vacheron explained that the main objective is to increase dialog between the native communities and the other communities: “it is quite important that we become accustomed to watching this other kind of cinema, the native people need a place to launch their own culture.”
At  www.cult.org you can find a detailed mission statement for the program: “Oficina Regional de Cultura para América Latina y el Caribe de la UNESCO wants to save the native cultures rights to the media, to means of expression and also distribution, and to promote minorities within the media. They decided to make available their program for natives of Latinamerica and the Carribean with their Red de Difusión – Cine Indígena: Las Cámaras de la Diversidad Network. This network will enable the distribution and promotion of native theme projects.
This new network is within the program called “Tecnologías de la Información y de la Comunicación para el Diálogo Intercultural” (ICT4ID) (Communication and Information Technology for Intercultural Dialog ), it promotes the making and formation of minorities so they can become creators for their own cultures and they may reflect their unique vision to the rest of the world. This project helps combat stereotypes and also the mechanizing of culture and it gives value to the native cultures (their languages, myths, oral tradition, chants, way of living, etc.) This program also wants to improve the native’s use of IT, it is opening new sources of income for them.

Vacheron emphasized upon the needs of the native cultures to promote their languages: “this topic is really relevant in Mexico because there are over 5 thousand different native languages.”

Las  cámaras de la diversidad is a project which includes many areas, it gives the opportunity to work with new technologies so the minorities can use them to transmit their stories. It also helps them with training, production and distribution, and also preserving.

Vacheron explained that in order to put the project into practice in Latin America and the Caribbean they are working with Fundación del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano (New Latin American Cinema Foundation). This is further explained at: www.cinelatinoamericano.org: “this institution works to integrate regional cinema, it helps rescue the identity and culture of Latin America and the Caribbean. It was created on December 4, 1985 by the Comité de Cineastas de América Latina (C-CAL) (Latin America Cinema Committee), and Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez is its president, he is considered one of the most representative story tellers of the twentieth century.

The FNCL’s objectives and functions are established by its Superior Council, they evolve around three strategic main points: to develop and integrate the cinema from Latin America and the Carribean, preserving the cultural audio-visual material and diversity and launching the visual arts and culture films.”

Vacheron mentioned the activities carried out at Escuela Internacional de Cine de San Antonio de los Baños (International Film School at San Antonio de los Baños). Here they try to create a native working group that will have an experience exchange with other filmmakers.
Vacheron also mentioned the possibility of exhibi