秘密研究所

In this film three generations of Mapuche women in Southern Argentina share the story of their fifty-year struggle resisting the eviction attempts by the Argentinian Army. Through daily life scenes, views of the landscape, testimonies and archival materials, this documentary shows the determination of this community to defend their ancestral lands and reveals a cosmovision where human beings live in harmony with nature and with everything it it. Their story is part of the collective history of the Mapuche people. Inhabitants in a land rich in natural resources, pristine sources of water and great touristic value, the Mapuches have been forced to defend their communities and culture for hundreds of years, since the Spanish Conquest Wars, to the genocidal 鈥淐ampaign of the Desert鈥� in the XIX century, to the eviction attempts by large international interests in the present times.

Marta Noem铆 Baut铆s, director, was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her social documentaries tell stories of struggle and hope, and they have been screened at numerous international festivals, among them the聽New Latin American Cinema Festival,聽in Havana, Cuba,聽 the聽Latino Film Festival of Sydney, in Australia, and the聽Latino Film Festival of San Diego, in California. Ms. Baut铆s is a faculty member in the School of Contemporary Arts at 秘密研究所 of New Jersey.