what escapes

Another recent short doc from AJ+:

On Sept. 26, 2014, municipal police attacked a group of students from Ayotzinapa school in Mexico’s Guerrero state. Of the 43 disappeared students, eight came from Tecoanapa. Now their fellow citizens have shut down the local government buildings and set up a people’s council. The community police have more or less kicked out the municipal police. It’s a movement for autonomy and self-governance that is gathering momentum across Guerrero.

Look back to look forward.

I’m pretty proud of the team that produced what you see in this round-up of short docs since AJ+ launched in September, and grateful to all the contributors.

Goodbye 2014. Hello 2015.

Kiribati on the front line: Another AJ+ short doc, as COP20 in Lima wraps up and we look ahead to the 2015 UN Climate Summit in Paris, where a universal deal for countries to cut carbon emissions and address the impacts of climate change is supposed to be finalized. But it will be too little too late for the people of Kiribati and other low-lying island nations like it. Reporter Anna Therese Day traveled to Kiribati to talk to the people on the front line of climate change and produced this piece. It was  shot by Jason Blalock and edited by Dalan McNabola.

Last week marked the 30 year anniversary of the Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal India. Remarkably, survivors of that very lethal and toxic disaster are still fighting for fair compensation and clean-up. AJ+ commissioned this beautiful short film by doc-makers Vikram Singh and Enrico Fabian that follows their journey to Delhi.

The Bhopal gas disaster was the worst industrial accident of the 20th century. Thirty years later, survivors are still fighting for justice. In the early hours of December 3, 1984, noxious gas spewed from a pesticide plant in the Indian city of Bhopal, killing thousands. Activists say the $470 million they finally received in compensation from Union Carbide, the factory’s American parent company, is not nearly enough for a leak that left more than half a million people disabled and a site that remains toxic to this day. AJ+ follows hundreds of survivors as they board a train to the capital and demand a fairer deal.

Pretty great to see these folks re-posting this short doc about the Unist'ot'en resistance to a series of oil and gas pipelines. It was produced by Frank Lopez for AJ+.

decolonizingmedia:

How to Stop a Pipeline: The Unist’ot’en Resistance

rezprojectresources:

Over the past four years, the Unist’ot’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en nation have literally built a strategy to keep three proposed oil and gas pipelines from crossing their land. Concerned about the environmental damage a leak could cause on land they’ve never given up, they’ve constructed a protection camp to block pipeline companies. As opposition to the development of Alberta’s tar sands and to fracking projects grows across Canada, with First Nations communities on the front lines, the Unist’ot’en camp is an example of resistance that everyone is watching. 

Decolonization in practice.
Resistance through action.
Respect.

(Source: rezprojectresources)

Here’s the last episode of Fault Lines I produced in spring/summer 2014 as protests continued to rage, inflation continued to rise, and unsubstantiated accusations of organized colectivo violence continued to be launched at the government. It was a complicated story to tell and one that would have been impossible without correspondent Seb Walker, DP Alfredo De Lara, Venezuela Producer Alex Paredes and Editor Adrienne Haspel.

Here’s the gloss. Sorry if you can’t watch it in the U.S.

A year after President Hugo Chavez’s death, Venezuela is in turmoil and more polarised than ever.

In February 2014, one wing of the country’s opposition erected barricades in the streets and fought battles with security forces in an effort to force Chavezs successor, Nicolas Maduro, from power.

On the other side of the political divide, government supporters have vowed they would do whatever it takes to protect Chavez’s so-called ‘Bolivarian revolution’.

More than 40 people on both sides have been killed in the violence and more than 3,000 were detained.

Venezuelan and international human rights organisations are mounting a case against the Maduro government, alleging systemic abuses by security forces - and by pro-government groups known as colectivos.

As the US Congress debates whether to sanction Venezuelan government officials, Fault Lines travels to Caracas and asks: Is the country in the midst of an authoritarian crackdown, or a clash between people with radically different visions for the future of their country?