Saturday, February 19, 2011

A Message from Pandora wins International Award




I had the opportunity to work with Mr. James Cameron, some of the cast of Avatar (Sigourney Weaver and Joel Moore) and the team from the environmental group Amazon Watch when they travelled back to the Amazon to talk further with native and community leaders about the government's plan to put a dam in the region. Images I filmed on that foray into the jungle were put into a new documentary by the Oscar winning director called " A message from Pandora" (see trailer below).

The documentary was included in last November's release of the collector's version of the ground-breaking and environmentally important 3D film " AVATAR". I only had the opportunity to see the production last week when a copy I ordered of the DVD set was sent from Canada to Brazil (the trials and tribulations of living in this nation I'll leave for another post). It's an incredibly important documentary highlighting one of the most disastrous projects to ever be considered for the Amazon.

The documentary won Germany's Cinema for PEACE international award. I hope this helps push the story farther around the globe and more learn about the Brazilian government's plans to uproot the lives of thousands of indigenous and local peoples in the area, for a project that doesn't make any sense economically or environmentally.

Congratulations to Amazon Watch, to James Cameron and all involved in this production, and the greater fight. I am happy to have helped in my small way.


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