Indigenous people at the forefront of audiovisual

TV&VIDEO: What leads a documentary filmmaker to start an audiovisual work with indigenous people?

Iván Sanjinés: There is an irrefutable fact that man cannot live without communicating, without transferring himself in a certain way to others...

Iconic language has always played a pivotal role since time immemorial. An indigenous community expresses its thought and reproduces itself culturally through various manifestations such as rituality, music, orality, artistic expression; in these times when the media burst into the lives of these peoples, they build their own forms of expression and communication, as a contribution to their own self-affirmation and with the intention of also being protagonists of the societies in which they live. My personal motivation has to do with all this as with my own experience; since I was a child I have participated in filming with teams of filmmakers, then I have been recording and living the stories, joys and tragedies of indigenous peoples, marginalized and discriminated against, in my role as a documentary filmmaker, necessarily that has influenced my work.

It is to feel that one is an instrument to make manifest the right to indigenous audiovisual self-representation, which helps to strengthen identity and is possible through the appropriation of audiovisual media.

TV&V: What is the project?

I.S.: This project is "The National Indigenous Original Plan for Audiovisual Communication" that enables the formation of appropriate methods and instruments to promote participation, information and training, so that indigenous peoples can be able to participate more actively in the processes of change they face. The National Plan promotes the progressive consolidation of the National Indigenous Network of Communication and Audiovisual Exchange, with an impact currently in 6 departments of Bolivia, and with projection, in addition, of progressively covering the entire country. Work is also being done to strengthen the National Audiovisual Archive, the most important indigenous archive in Bolivia. The National Indigenous Network for Communication and Exchange is the main axis of the National Plan, which is formed as a unique and valuable mechanism dealing with circulating messages and providing education and greater intercultural contact.

This includes, on the other hand, training and training of indigenous skills and capacities for the production and dissemination of audiovisual education towards progressive specialization. Likewise, it contemplates a Program of Indigenous Productions in different genres and formats adapted to two types of dissemination and use: in indigenous communities and television. There is also the Monitoring/Evaluation and Planning Program that contemplates the periodic measurement of impact, consultation and joint work to ensure the adequate participation of the indigenous organizations involved in the entire process.

TV&V: In which countries have you developed it and with the support of whom?

I.S.: It is necessary to remember that in 1985 the Latin American Council of Cinema and Video of Indigenous Peoples -CLACPI- was founded in Mexico City with the central task of opening a first space in the continent for the dissemination and knowledge of the reality and indigenous problems through audiovisual production. From there it is based so that in Latin America interesting experiences of training and transfer of audiovisual media are developed, such as:

In Brazil, where the Centro de Trabajo Indigenista - CTI - has developed an interesting transfer and training project under the title "Video in the Villages" that includes an indigenous television program.

In Bolivia there are several experiences of interest such as those carried out within the framework of the Mining Film Workshop (between 1983 and 1988 with young Quechua and Aymara), one with the Center for the Promotion of Women "Gregoria Apaza", another of the Aymara Education and Communication Center "Saphi Aru" in the highlands of La Paz and, a last one has been developed since 1987 within the framework of the implementation of a National Indigenous Plan for Audiovisual Communication, with the formation of a National Network for Communication and Audiovisual Exchange, possible thanks to the fundamental support of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation-AECI and the Non-Governmental Organization Mugarik Gabe.

We can also highlight the experiences developed by Cuba, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile and Guatemala, among others.

We are currently in an interesting stage of consolidating a continental strategy for the enhancement of all these experiences, of opening spaces for distribution, of joining forces towards co-production, etc.

TV&V: What kind of technology do they use?

I.S.: We use audiovisual technology in the digital format for fiction productions. The indigenous people of Bolivia also use the S-VHS format for self-documentation and dissemination records in the country's indigenous and peasant communities. It is important to note that we have been pioneers in the use of this technology for the production of the first series of indigenous fictions in Bolivia, at the forefront of large television and advertising companies.

TV&V: How has the process of bringing indigenous people closer to technology and audiovisual language been like?

I.S.: Indigenous peoples are willing to face the challenge of assuming technology as a possible instrument to express themselves and manifest their own needs, points of view, joys, problems and, of course, to propose solutions.

According to the evaluation of several of the experiences currently under development in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Bolivia, the insertion and use of these technologies within the communities immediately leads to the analysis of the effects of this presence. In this sense, it seems clear that there are two main interests at stake: One, the use of the new medium within the community and between the communities and, another, the elaboration of messages to the outside, to the media and, the interpellation and dissemination of their concerns.

When deciding on the priorities in this contact, it is necessary to identify their needs in terms of communication and expression, their previous experiences, their previous contact with the media, the way in which the relationship with them has developed and the identification of the most appropriate medium (TV-Radio) to begin a progressive appropriation.

In any case, it is essential that the process is the product of a requirement and not the external imposition of an avant-garde idea or proposal. Only if communities culturally embrace this technology and incorporate it into their daily lives under a natural process can they succeed.

TV&V: What is the difference between the traditional audiovisual narrative of the West and that of indigenous communities?

I.S.: The differences are as many as both models of life and worldview are different. It cannot be said that there is only one look of the indigenous peoples, they are in turn as varied the looks as indigenous cultures exist. In any case, it can be said that they are not pre-conditioned by the formulas and recipes of commercial production. This is where the naturalness and spontaneity of indigenous stories draws attention. When natural actors recreate their lives and when communities organize to reconstruct their own history – there are views that develop from the philosophy of respecting the diversity of communities and cultures, and not imposing themselves from the outside – they have a greater time for what is inside to sprout. These indigenous perspectives are also here to question the future and their role in development itself.

The fundamental signals influencing today's modern world are clear: the market, globalization and homogenization are basic elements of Western discourse or agenda. But there is another agenda: that of indigenous peoples.

TV&V: How do indigenous peoples "read" the image?

I.S.: Indigenous peoples have demystified the image in terms of its stereotyped structure. Now the possibility of self-representation is presented, it is about indigenous peoples being active actors and protagonists of the community construction of their image, which in fact this is already a differential aspect in the way of reading the traditional image.

It is well known that our peoples and cultures have always had their own concepts about happiness, progress and human coexistence. The indigenous gaze is another look, it entails, in addition to a worldview of peoples who respect their environment and know how to listen to the voices of the earth, a variety of ways of conceiving the audiovisual where the idea of the whole prevails, of community, rather than of an isolated individual, where the times respect the possibility of expression and transmission of a message. This is in contrast to the current accelerated television discourse.

TV&V: How have indigenous communities benefited from learning about audiovisual work?

I.S.: In many ways. Perhaps the same unbridled advance of Western society and its media has led indigenous peoples to react, to defend themselves. This means that beyond exoticist positions there is rather a time to assume one's own cultural defense through these means. Thus, in the case of the National Indigenous Original Plan for Audiovisual Communication, we can argue that in Bolivia indigenous peoples already have in their hands the audiovisual technologies to build communication mechanisms and strategies and better face the challenges of the new millennium.

Not only are we talking about the fact that indigenous peoples and natives of different peoples, cultures and languages are accessing the knowledge necessary for the use of audiovisual technologies and structuring their own ways of telling and narrating, but from these experiences many peoples have been put in contact through a National Indigenous Network of Communication and Audiovisual Exchange. In turn, this Plan is opening spaces for intercultural contact with national society and promoting greater prominence and active presence in the context of the media.

TV&V: How could indigenous productions be linked to commercial and public television circuits in each Latin American country?

I.S.: We are aware that indigenous production must be linked to the establishment of networks for the exchange and dissemination of messages self-generated by indigenous peoples, this is a process that has been built. In the field of television, there are problems of access, technical requirements and television format, among others. They are very different production logics and it is not a question of producing merchandise videos for television, but products with indigenous identity and proposal, which on television help to counteract the immense avalanche of foreign and counterproductive programs. Therefore, the functionality and operability of communication networks must be prioritized for the exchange and generalization of the knowledge and practices that indigenous peoples achieve in this process, aiming at a self-sustainable development towards the future that allows them to take over, with dignity, these spaces (commercial and public television).

The current situation of enormous competitiveness in the mass media, technological innovations, the growth and affirmation of the indigenous movement throughout the continent and the progressive incorporation of new audiovisual technologies make it necessary to join efforts around common objectives to be in a better position to face the challenges of the distribution and production of high quality. Similarly, a system of solidarity exchange is essential to feed existing networks and support their strengthening.

It is important to reflect on the possibilities of access and participation of the indigenous people of the Americas in the media, which remain quite limited. But, on the other hand, it is also true that numerous experiences on the continent are bearing important fruits by allowing indigenous people and peasants to assume the defense of their cultures and develop their own ways of expression through the image. It is also true that these efforts have to grow and multiply. At the moment several co-production initiatives for television are being prepared with the Ibero-American Educational Television Association based in Madrid or with the ILCE in Mexico, for satellite transmission throughout the Americas, for example.

TV&V: How has the project changed the way you look and narrate with images?

I.S.: I've certainly been influenced by this process. This influence has to do with a broader look at the details and processes, respecting the times of counting and narrating and also in the relationship that one establishes with the priorities at the time of deciding which audiovisual discourse should be elaborated.

Living very close to the indigenous world makes us feel more harshly that the current times are globalization, with an ideology where differences should not exist to turn us all into uncritical consumers. In the transaction of the globalized market there are no scenarios to discuss quality of life, common good or social justice; nor are there opportunities for dialogue, discussion and debate between ten, fifteen or a hundred people as we do in our councils, organizations and families. Perhaps, today more than ever, our cultures and our experiences must show their roots, identity, fluidity, openness and anti-dogmatism without losing their essence. It is about knowing how to take advantage of what this process can generate to use it in defense of a world with many voices, with many cultures, with different options ..., is that our peoples are called to manifest their creative will, their initiative, their capacities for transformation, qualities of organization, curiosities and their talents.