Rainforest Forests: Proving Their Worth Category: Independent

RAIN FORESTS: PROVING THEIR WORTH brings to light a critical effort to help protect the rain forests and their inhabitants. This hour-long PBS documentary follows a campaign by environmentally conscious businesses to market foods and cosmetics derived from renewable plant materials from the tropical forests. In turn, they hope to use the profits to provide indigenous inhabitants with the economic means to protect their vanishing lands. Rain Forests: Proving their Worth also documents some of the obstacles remaining: Brazil Nut collectors do not get fair prices, and the harvested trees are burned for charcoal to feed iron ore smelters. Even the best-intentioned green businesses often find themselves in a situation in which demand exceeds supply and begin to purchase the raw materials from agricultural monopolies that practice neither sustainable harvesting techniques nor respect fair labor practices anti-child slavery laws.

PROJECT LETIMAREN is a self-run resource management project created by a collaboration of several Indian communities. Together, the diverse groups work toward a common goal of integrating traditional ways into habit conservations and village development. Project Letimaren was sponsored by the Federation of Indigenous Peoples and commissioned by Cultural Survival Inc. and the Ford foundation.

Interlock Media collaborates with Greenleaf in awakening city planners to the importance of composting within the urban landscape. This documentary highlights the neighborhoods of Boston, but, in fact, cities throughout the country suffer from dead soils. Bringing Life Back demonstrates how compost can renew plant life in towns and can even provide hope to impoverished neighborhoods.

This animated corporate video describes an eco-company’s mission to promote sustainable development as a profitable business strategy for Brazilian Rubber Trappers and Indian (Is this really “Indian” or meant to be “indigenous”?) extractivist cooperatives. Deja Shoe, which is also the name of this green company, was produced for the Ocean Aid concert series and for this green organization’s international point-of-sale usage. Robert C. Farentinos, Ph. D., the Deja Shoe Company’s VP of Environmental Affairs writes:

I can say without equivocation that your involvement with this program has been vital to its ultimate success. From networking us with key individuals in the scientific, cultural and political arenas to the planning and execution of logistics in the field, your assistance has been invaluable.
The Charges Against Paulinho Paiakan

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Interlock Media, Inc., helped in investigating the politically-charged rape accusation levied against Kayapo Indian (Do we want to use “Indian” or “Native American”?) leader Paulinho Paiakan by the family of a young non-Indian Brazilian woman. News of the rape made headlines at the 1992 Earth Summit, effectively neutralizing Paiakan as a spokesperson for his people and spurring on anti-Indian and anti-environmental sentiments in Brazil and elsewhere. This seven-minute piece first presents the evidence against Paiakan, which initially appeared irrefutable. Many rainforest activists believe, however, that Paiakan was framed through the careful orchestration of the Brazilian government in order to dismantle the recently acquired indigenous protections in the Constitution – reforms in which Paiakan played a major role. Through a series of interviews conducted by Interlock Media with key players in the original investigation, The Charges Against Paulinho Paiakan reveal possible contradictions that could be detrimental to the prosecution's case.

URBAN ASTHMA produced by a group of energetic teens for teens is a different and effective take on a common childhood health problem. The video hopes to promote our youth to take prescribed medication to avoid a growing epidemic that affects more than 4 million children. Presented by the Boston Medical Center, Urban Asthma is produced by Interlock Media in collaboration with Youth Voice Collaborative, Dorchester Youth Voice Collaborative, and Arts in Progress (Jamaica Plain/Roxbury).

A VOICE FROM THE PAST documents Russian actress ______’s discovery of several Stalin-era propaganda films. The film investigates the psychological effects of this propaganda on the Soviet population from 1929 to 1953, when millions suffered atrocities under Stalin’s regime. “A Voice from the Past” is a deftly crafted social and historical commentary presented through ______’s world-shaking discovery.

A critical look at the prawn farming industry in Ecuador and Latin America, SHRIMP FEVER reveals ways in which prawn farming has devastated coastal ecosystems and impoverished local communities while making quick money for a handful of investors.  The one-hour film, produced in English and Spanish, is a prototype for an integrated community-based approach to coastal resource management.

Produced in collaboration with Rainforest Action Network, Cultural Survival, and Greenpeace, THE RAINFORESTS AND THE TRIBAL PEOPLES is a campaign to promote and support preservation projects initiated by indigenous peoples. Interlock contributed a series of concerts and educational videos for the campaign.

TUNNEL VISIONS: INTO THE SEA OF UNCERTAINTY examines the history and progress of the Boston Harbor Project. Tunnel Visions aired in November of 1998, broadcasted on WGBH TV and WGBX TV. The two half-hour segments are available from The Video Project at 1.800.475.2638. Packaged with the film is a 24-page audience guide elaborating on scientific and technical topics the Boston Harbor Project has brought up.

Shot in Costa Rica’s Talamanca mountain range, JAGUAR TRAX is an entertaining, fact-based tale that teaches the value of rainforest biodiversity while encouraging sustainable use practices.  The 45-minute film follows two protagonists, a high school student who spends her summer working on a rainforest documentary, and her science teacher, who visits Costa Rica and learns about sustainable agriculture in the rainforest. 

Over 300 people contributed to the production of this film, both in the US and in Costa Rica, where films crews worked with local agricultural organizations and the indigenous Bri Bri Indians (Again, do we want to use “Indians”?). Talented American and Costa Rican actors worked closely with narrator Jeff Corwin of Animal Planet’s The Jeff Corwin Experience to quickly and efficiently shoot the complicated script on a tight schedule. 

Major supporters for Jaguar Trax include Costa Rica, The Kellogg Foundation/EARTH University, and Environmental Education Fundraisers, Inc.