2013 AIFF Opening Night

Description

7:00 pm - MEMENTO MORI (Remember Your Mortality)(9:40) Daniela Wayllace, Director | Belgium | 2012|AMIMATION HEART OF SKY HEART OF EARTH (98 MIN) Frauke Sandig & Eric Black, Directors |Germany | 2011|DOC The ancient Maya believed this present world would end and a new cycle arise after 5125 years. How does the story end? Does the water change color? Do the oceans collapse? Does the sky fall as the last tree is cut? HEART OF SKY, HEART OF EARTH allows the Maya of today to answer, following six young Maya in Guatemala and Chiapas through their daily and ceremonial life, revealing their determination to resist the destruction of their culture and environment. As corporations go to the ends of the earth to extract all value, all resources, they put forth a wholly indigenous perspective in their own words, without narration. Each story touches upon a facet of the current global crisis. Beautifully filmed over years, the intimate accounts of the protagonists interweave with images associated with the fragile beauty of nature and the creation myth of the Popol Vuh. Ruins of a former Mayan civilization stand in the background as harbingers of our own possible fate. The Maya, like many indigenous people, believe they are the guardians of the Earth. Their cosmovision, in which all life is sacred and interconnected, presents a deeply compelling alternative to the prevailing worldview. Panel Discussion Following After-Party at Acitron Restaurant for VIP & Festival Pass holders