GFDD/DREFF Bring Glimpses from Latin America to Washington, DC

Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and its Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival (DREFF), in partnership with the Environmental Film Festival on the Nation”s Capital (DCEFF), presented a short film program entitled “Glimpses from Latin America: Sustainability Challenges Affecting Daily Lives”. The program, followed by a panel discussion with special guests, took place on March 17th and included 3 short films from 3 different countries sharing one reality.

“Alimento” (Food), from the Dominican Republic, “Mar Incendiado” (The Burnt Sea), from Mexico, and “Refugiados do Desenvolvimiento” (Development Refugees), from Brazil, were the three films screened at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C.

Chris Head, DCEFF’s Executive Director, gave the welcoming remarks to the event while Maria Victoria Abreu, GFDD’s International Affairs and Socioeconomic Development Program Manager and DREFF’s Programming Director, presented the films and thanked DCEFF for another great opportunity to co-host a program as part of their prestigious environmental film festival, running since 1993. This year the program was also a collaboration with two other environmental film festival, all members of the Green Film Network (GFN), Cinema Planeta and Filmambiente.

Following the screenings, Eleonora Isunza, director of Mexico’s Cinema Planeta and co-producer of “Mar Incendiado” shared her experience of producing the short as a collaborative effort with the Government of Mexico to promote awareness about climate change effects on people. In addition, Mijaíl Peralta, Dominican filmmaker and co-director of “Alimento”, mentioned the importance of having civil society involved in environmental activism and how his film was part of a bigger agenda of bringing attention to food security problems in the Haitian-Dominican border.

GFDD/DREFF and DCEFF have been partners for many years, jointly promoting sustainability and environmental awareness thorough films and other initiatives.

About the films

Alimento (Food) / Dominican Republic (2016)
Directed by Wendy P. Espinal and Mijaíl Peralta
18 min 30 sec
It is a struggle to survive at the Dominican-Haitian border. A lot of food is harvested but it ends up far away.

Mar Incendiado (The Burnt Sea) / Mexico (2017)
Directed by Carlos Armella
17 min
Since 1940 abalone has been the main fishery of Isla Natividad, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Climate change has transformed sea conditions while the community tries to adapt to the threat.

Refugiados do Desenvolvimento (Development Refugees) / Brazil (2017)
Directed by Fabio Nascimento
8 min 37 sec
Brazil is a rich source of gold, silver, oil, iron, copper, meat, fruits, and coffee, among others. This wealth has made a few prosper while the majority remains poor. Development in Brazil has been unequal and did not contemplate its people.