Working in collaboration with partners in Washington and beyond, the Center brings to bear insights from researchers and practitioners who illuminate their research-based findings through film.
Escaping Atlantis
Contributing to the Center's project on Religion and Environmentally-Induced Displacement, Filmmaker Fanny Ahman follows the Guna people, an indigenous people off the coast of Panama, as they face the effects of climate change on their archipelago. The result is her documentary “Escaping Atlantis,” which explores the key intersections of climate change, sea level rise, and traditional Guna spirituality in an effort to preserve their culture. Ahman is a recipient of the AU-Pulitzer Center International Reporting Fellowship.
Watch the full documentary here.
I Am The Land
Contributing to the Center's project on Religion and Environmentally-Induced Displacement, Filmmaker Josee Molavi spent three months in Puerto Rico learning from those who identify with the Taíno community and documenting the living history of the island. The result is her documentary “I Am the Land,” which explores the key intersections of modern science, environmental activism, and indigenous spiritual knowledge in the pursuit of climate justice. Molavi is a recipient of the AU-Pulitzer Center International Reporting Fellowship.
Watch the full documentary here.
Broken Land: Confronting Climate Change and Migration in Guatemala
Contributing to the Center's project on Religion and Environmentally-Induced Displacement, Filmmakers Jessica Marcy and Amelia Tyson explore the conditions in the Guatemalan city of Quetzaltenango and the surrounding largely Indigenous towns in the Western Highlands. This film explores how a community organization is developing solutions that address the complexities around environmental justice and the human rights issue of migration. Both filmmakers are recipients of the AU-Pulitzer Center International Reporting Fellowship funded by CLALS and AU School of Communication.
Watch the full documentary here.
Fire and Ice on the Mountain
As a part of the Center's work on Religion and Climate Change, School of Communication Journalist in Residence Bill Gentile traveled to Peru in June 2017 to document the annual ceremony honoring the Andean New Year. The event takes place at the Huaytapallana mountain, just outside the city of Huancayo, located about 120 miles east of the Peruvian capital of Lima. The film explores how the melting glacier of the Huaytapallana mountain impacts Peruvians' cosmovision or, their spiritual relationship with nature and their understanding of their place in it.
Coffee, Catholics and Climate Change
Contributing to the Center's work on Religion and Climate Change, International Reporting Fellow Camila DeChalus examines how small-scale coffee farmers in Colombia are fighting against the impact of climate change. With assistance from the Catholic Church, families in the Nariño province are now experimenting with techniques to sustain coffee cultivation and diversify agricultural production amidst severe climate change.
When the Forest Weeps
As part of the Center's Luce Foundation-funded initiative on Religion and Democratic Contestation in Latin America, School of Communication Journalist in Residence Bill Gentile shot and produced the documentary short "When the Forest Weeps" while on assignment in Ecuador. The piece highlights the spiritual relationship between the Kichwa indigenous people and the Ecuadoran Amazon rain forest.
God and Gangs: Criminal Violence and Religion in Guatemala
"God and Gangs: Criminal Violence and Religion in Guatemala" is a series of three short videos that sketch the context of gang violence in Guatemala and highlight the role of religion as a potential source for both individual and social transformation. As a part of the Luce Foundation-funded project on Religion and Violence in Latin America, the series profiles the work of sociologist Robert Brenneman as he interviews former gang members who have exited the criminal world by converting to Pentecostalism.
Watch this documentary in three parts: