Saul Landau - details

Peace Movement Aotearoa

National Programme for visit of Saul Landau

* Dunedin:

Friday 3rd Sept. 7pm Castle 1 lecture theatre with video projection, Otago University Contact Michael Tritt tel 03 473 6333

* Christchurch:

Sunday 5th Sept. Knox Hall Lounge, 28 Beasley Ave 7.30pm Contact Corso 03 3662803

* Blenheim

6th Sept Evening function with Saul Tel 03 573 7226

* Nelson:

Monday 6th Sept: St Johns Methodist Hall 320 Hardy Street, Nelson. 5.30pm The Uncompromising Revolution 6.15pm Mexicali food served 7pm The Sixth Sun

Tuesday 7th Sept: 7pm Saul and Laboring on Border's Edge

* Wellington:

Thursday 9th Sept: National Library 5.30pm/7.30pm Contact Paul Bruce 04 3898 699 5:15pm The Uncompromising Revolution (1988): 6:15pm - 7pm Social - Food, Refreshments [koha] and conversation 7pm Labouring on the Border's Age (1999) with Introduction from Saul Landau 8:15pm - 9pm The Sixth Sun: Mayan Uprising in Chiapas (1996)

* Auckland:

8th Sept: 11.15am Video showing Reclaiming APEC conf. Bruce Dyer 03 546 8032

Saturday 11th Sep: 7pm: Functions Rm, Auck Student Univ Bldg, 7pm Labouring on the Border's Age with Introduction Saul Landau The Sixth Sun: Mayan Uprising in Chiapas (1996) Contact: APEC Monitoring Group, ph/09 302 5390 extn 833 Email: notoapec@clear.net.nz

SOME OF THESE DETAILS MAY CHANGE, PLEASE CHECK OUT THE LATIN AMERICA COMMITTEE WEBSITE or tel (04) 3898-699 for up to date details.

SAUL LANDAU and GLOBALISATION

Mr. Saul Landau, a US citizen known for his work on Native American and South American cultures, will be in New Zealand from September 2nd to 14th as a guest of the Latin America Committee and part of the Alternative APEC programme.

Videos entitled The Sixth Sun, featuring an interview with Zapatista leader Commandante Marcos and Laboring on Border's Edge, dealing with Maquila industries set up in the border zone of Mexico, will add another dimension to the globalisation debate, while at the same time giving a Latin perspective to the issues. The Uncomprosing Revolution, Cuba and Castro at middle age, will also be shown in some centres.

Mr. Landau’s most famed achievements are the forty films he has produced on social, political and historical issues, and worldwide human rights, for which he won the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award, the George Polk Award for Investigative Reporting, and the First Amendment Award, as well as an Emmy for Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang.

During 1997 Landau hosted a speaker series on Mexico, NAFTA and free trade, and in 1998, a series on Paths to the 21st Century, part of a new A Multimedia Exploration program and Internet course, Paths to the 21st Century will draw on research and analysis to present a perspective on 20th century issues including war, social justice and injustice, science and technology. This perspective will inform strategies for applying knowledge gained through experience as we look toward the 21" century. Currently teaching in the areas of Latin American studies, the analysis of revolution and politics through film, at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Saul Landau is uniquely qualified to talk on these issues.

Saul Landau's: Affiliations and Positions:

The Hugh O. La Bounty Chair of Interdisciplinary Applied Knowledge, at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, since 1997. Senior fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington D.C. since 1972 IPS board member, 1980-1998 Senior fellow at the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam since 1974. Pacifica Radio Network News political analyst and commentator since 1993. Fulbright Scholarship Awards Committee member for film, video, and photography, 1989-1993. Center for Cuban Studies board member, 1973-1998.

APEC MONITORING GROUP

Since the 1994 APEC Summit in Indonesia, the APEC Monitoring Group has been involved with ongoing research, education and media work on the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, and the implications of its agenda for Aotearoa and other APEC member countries. Members of the Monitoring Group have attended alternative meetings on APEC in Jakarta (1994), Osaka/Kyoto (1995), Manila (1996), Vancouver (1997) and Kuala Lumpur (1998) as well as monitoring the official APEC meetings themselves and their impact on the cities that have hosted the events. The APEC Monitoring Group is a member of the GATT Watchdog coalition and works closely with Corso and the Trade Union Federation.

THE SIXTH SUN: MAYAN UPRISING IN CHIAPAS 56 minutes

Writer, producer, director Saul Landau: Photographer: Haskell Wexler.
Won Best Director Award, First American Indian Intercontinental Film Festival, Santa Fe, 1996;
Won Golden Apple Award, 1997;
Won Best Picture at the North Carolina Smoky Mountain, Film Festival, 1997.

The Sixth Sun documents the origins and immediate causes of the January, 1994, Mayan rebellion in Chiapas, and how elements of the Catholic Church and political revolutionaries joined an indigenous struggle for land and the survival of a people and their culture. Features in-depth interviews with the masked "poet warrior", Subcommandante Marcos and other rebel spokesmen amidst scenes of the mountains and jungle from which the rebellion sprang. Bishop Samuel Ruiz, Mexico's controversial defender of Indian rights, argues the religious, non-violent side of the struggle. Peasants who have occupied land, dispossessed cattle ranchers, conservative Catholic property owners, a Mexican general and other government officials round out the story.

Visually interweaving the experience of the Mayan past with contemporary reality, the film raises global questions as to what is to be judged expendable in the rush to economic integration - whether the destruction of whole peoples and cultures that have survived over centuries is simply to be accepted as the price of "progress".

LABOURING ON BORDER'S EDGE 45 minutes

This most recent film just completed describes the disastrous social and environmental effects of the Maquila industries set up in the border zone of Mexico as a result of the "free trade" agreements with the united states.

THE UNCOMPROMISING REVOLUTION 54 minutes

Writer, producer, director: Saul Landau.
Theatrical release; 1990, PBS and European television version. Cuba and Castro at middle age.

The Uncompromising Revolution erases the image of Cuba as it has been seen by U.S. leaders in a bold statement against traditional American perspectives. The documentary lacks the over-edited glitter of Hollywood, and clumsy camera angles leave the audience with a feeling of authenticity and objectivity.

Not a light-hearted or cheery entertainment piece, the sobriety of the film’s tone portrays Cubas’ struggle. It also lends an ear to the Island’s Latin culture.

This film digresses from the propagandistic natures of Castro's public speeches, challenging the leader and discussing problems the revolution has faced: cronyism, nepotism and misuse of states resources. It takes you on a tour of some of the Island’s medical and prison facilities, and greets workers at construction sites and factories

After summarising Cuba’s recent history, Castro introduces the 1980s and Cuba’s new generation. Charismatic and welcoming yet refreshingly honest, Castro takes Landau's film crew on a tour of some of the island's medical and prison facilities, and greets workers at construction sites and factories.

Castro directs the film with his personality, as he directed the revolution. But Landau's career directing films on Latin American political subjects uniquely prepared him for handling Castro and his charisma. Landau's editing offers a view of a national leader not often seen anywhere.

[Oregon Emerald, Vol. 90, No. 125]

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