SCREENING IN THE BERNARD OSHER FOUNDATION AUDITORIUM
“The filmmakers retain a touching faith that most Americans won’t tolerate injustice when they know about it. This film is meant to teach them.”
Shorts: approx. 24 minutes (followed by filmmaker Q&A); Harvest of Empire: 90 minutes (followed by panel discussion). Not Rated. Various Directors. In English.
The Wabanaki Film Festival, co-programmed by Mali Obomsawin and Lokotah Sanborn, will put in dialogue two feature films, Kahnasetake: 270 Years of Resistance and Harvest of Empire, spotlighting the impacts of western imperialism on Indigenous and Latino communities across our hemisphere. Short film and panelist selections will emphasize ways of resistance, providing critical analysis and Indigenous insights that have allowed resistances to survive and succeed. Refreshments will be provided. This event is co-sponsored by Bomazeen Land Trust and Presente! Maine. See schedule below.
Harvest of Empire
At a time of heated and divisive debate over immigration, Harvest of Empire examines the direct connection between the long history of U.S. intervention in Latin America and the immigration crisis we face today.
Based on the groundbreaking book by award-winning journalist Juan González, Harvest of Empire takes an unflinching look at the role that U.S. economic and military interests played in triggering an unprecedented wave of migration that is transforming our nation’s cultural and economic landscape.
From the wars for territorial expansion that gave the U.S. control of Puerto Rico, Cuba and more than half of Mexico, to the covert operations that imposed oppressive military regimes in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador, Harvest of Empire unveils a moving human story that is largely unknown to the great majority of citizens in the U.S. “They never teach us in school that the huge Latino presence here is a direct result of our own government’s actions in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America over many decades -- actions that forced millions from that region to leave their homeland and journey north,” says Juan González at the beginning of the film.
Harvest of Empire provides a rare and powerful glimpse into the enormous sacrifices and rarely-noted triumphs of our nation’s growing Latino community. The film features present day immigrant stories, rarely seen archival material, as well as interviews with such respected figures as Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta Menchú, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero, Mexican historian Dr. Lorenzo Meyer, journalists Maria Hinojosa and Geraldo Rivera, Grammy award-winning singer Luis Enrique, and poet Martín Espada.
Wabanaki Film Festival Schedule
11 am: Free refreshments and mingling
11:30 am: Greeting and introduction
11:45 am: Screening of Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
1:45 pm: Q&A and panel discussion
30-45min break
2:45 pm: Wabanaki Short Films Block
Putep Qotatokot-te Elewestaq (The Whale was Speaking) (4:29) (directed by Mihku Paul)
Bay of Herons (8:00) (directed by Jared Lank)
Otherworld (9:57) (directed by Lokotah Sanborn)
Q&A with filmmakers
3:30pm: Screening of Harvest of Empire
5pm: Q&A and panel discussion