Noites Alienigenas

In collaboration with VOCES de Guatemala en Berlín, Coletivo Varadouro  (Acre, Brazil)

The screening will be followed by a talk with a member of the Coletivo Varadouro moderated by Claudia Pinzón

During the event, funds will be raised for the activities of the Coletivo Varadouro, such as their yearly meeting and the attendance of representatives to the COP in Belém, Brazil. Buttons from the Colectivo Varadouro as well as kitchenware made from fallen wood from the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve will be on sale. All proceeds will go to the Coletivo Varadouro. 

On the outskirts of the city of Rio Branco, Acre, the lives of three young people meet. Each is affected by urban violence and conflict between criminal gangs. Sérgio de Carvalho shows an urban Amazonia where the traditions of Indigenous peoples, alienated from the forest, resist the spirit of the times. According to estimates, violence in the state of Acre has tripled in the last ten years, with consequences not only for the urban population but also for the ecosystem and the rural population. Noites Alienigenas shows us another part of the Amazon, one which is often ignored in Europe, specifically in Germany, where the Amazon region is often depicted as “virgin rainforest”. The upcoming COP which will take place in November in Belem, Brazil, will bring renewed attention to the Amazon. It is therefore crucial to diversify narratives about the region at this time. This film also has the ability to connect rural/urban realities in Guatemala and in Berlin, both places that, in different ways, experience rural youth exodus due to pressures over land, the dominance of capitalist imaginaries of a good life, and a lack in social services such as education and health. (CP)

VOCES de Guatemala en Berlín is a collective connected to the political, environmental, feminist struggles in Guatemala and tries to be a bridge between local indigenous and civil society in Guatemala and civil society in Germany. 

Coletivo Varadouro is a collective of young people from Reservas Extrativistas in the Amazonian state of Acre, Brazil that follow the legacy of Chico Mendes – rubber tapper and rural worker’s union leader killed in 1988 – in resisting the exploitation of the rainforest and the eviction of the local communities.

Claudia Pinzón is part of Voces de Guatemala Berlin. She researches youth participation in the socio-environmental movements in the Amazonian state of Acre, Brazil.