Supporting Indigenous Resistance and Environmental Justice
Help bring Powerlands to your community
Dear friends,
I'm excited to announce the release of a project I've put many years of work into, in collaboration with several brilliant artists, organizers, filmmakers and organizations.
We just celebrated the world premiere of Powerlands, a feature documentary directed by Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso. I produced the film, working with an amazing team that includes editor Tim Tsai, music by Daniel French of Las Cafeteras, and cinematography by Melisa Cardona. We worked in close collaboration with human rights organizations and Indigenous communities, including Frontline Defenders, Grupo Yansa, Fuerza Mujeres Wayuu, and Black Mesa Indigenous Support.
Powerlands follows Ivey Camille on a journey from her home in Navajo Nation across three continents, as she investigates displacement of Indigenous people and devastation of the environment caused by the same chemical companies that have exploited the land where she was born. On this personal and political journey she learns from Indigenous activists who are resisting displacement and fighting for the earth in Colombia, Mexico, and The Philippines. You can read more about the film, and watch a short trailer, at powerlands.org. You can also read our first review here, which calls it “a powerhouse experience.”
We are excited to bring this film to other communities involved in environmental justice struggles, and to collaborate with organizers on the front lines. The film is screening next week in Cartagena, Colombia (near one of the communities we filmed with), in April at AmDocs Film Festival in Palm Springs, California, and in New Orleans.
If you would like to bring this film to your community or campus, please reach out. This is a grassroots project, made in collaboration with Indigenous communities and organizations, and we can’t wait to use this film to support more organizations in the struggle.
Love and solidarity,
Jordan
PS: For those who have not seen it, here’s the link to my anticapitalist list of the best films of 2021.