News & Events
February 2007
Filmmaker Alexandra Halkin shares her experiences working with indigenous filmmakers in Chiapas
photos by Tim Hussin
On Thursday, February 15th, the Institute welcomed filmmaker Alexandra Halkin of the Chiapas Media Project and Coordinator for Latin American Indigenous Film and Communication. An independent documentary video producer, Halkin has been producing documentaries for the last 24 years. In 1995, she started developing the Chiapas Media Project (CMP)/Promedios, a bi-national partnership that provides video and computer equipment and training for indigenous and campesino communities in Southern Mexico. Since 1998, the CMP/Promedios has trained over 200 indigenous men and women in video production in Chiapas and Guerrero, Mexico. During her visit, Halkin screened the short film “The Land Belongs to Those Who Work It” which documents the land struggle of one group of Zapatistas in the town of Bolon Aja’aw. She also discussed the current struggles of the Zapatistas in Chiapas, the process of establishing CMP/Promedios and what the future might hold for the organization. Her visit was part of the “Indigenous Peoples in Digital Cultures” conference held last week at the University of Florida.
CMP/Promedios award-winning videos have been broadcast in
Mexico, US, Canada, and New Zealand and screened at film and video festivals, universities and museums worldwide. Halkin has consulted with various organizations such as Witness, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights workshop on Indigenous Media , and CLACPI (Latin American Council for Indigenous Film and Communication). In 2004, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for her work with the CMP/Promedios and to develop a new project, the Latin American Indigenous Video Initiative (LAIVI). Halkin is the Founding Director, Chiapas Media Project/ Promedios de Comunicación Comunitaria and a member of the Distribution Commission, Coordinator for Latin American Indigenous Film and Comunication (CLACPI). She was recently awarded a Fulbright to work on archiving indigenous film and video.
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