Fall 2019
Happy New Year to our Literacy Project Family and Friends!
As the year winds to a close, we reflect back and look forward. 2018 brought more than its share of challenges in the news, but we are more committed than ever to working toward a world of inclusion that functions for all. We are commitment to sharing stories of hope and concrete victories, lifting up stories of education justice and community literacy as key social justice and human rights issues, essential for a healthy society and a fully-functioning democracy.
We’re excited to share some of our highlights from a full and busy year, including a new and updated website, that unites our trilogy of films. We hope as you make your final contributions for 2018, you will consider supporting our work.
Project Updates
MAESTRA:
Multilingual Versions and Transnational Partnerships
In collaboration with grassroots social justice and education organizations in various countries, we have completed versions of MAESTRA in five languages. Many of these collaborations were sparked by educators who saw MAESTRA at the Literacy Museum in Havana.
We now have 2-minute trailers in Haitian Kreyol and Portuguese and the full-length versions will launch in September! A big thanks to Lilian Lombera who coordinated this work and subtitled both the Kreyol and Portuguese versions. Both of these versions will be available for free with open links by end of the month.
Haitian Kreyol
In collaboration with Kreyol language education partners in Haiti and the diaspora, especially Founder/Director of Inisyativ MIT-Ayiti / MIT-Haiti Initiative Michel DeGraff, we have created subtitle and voiceover versions of MAESTRA for use in Haiti and in Kreyol language education programs across the diaspora.
MAESTRA will travel to Haiti for 10 days of screenings and educational events from Sept 5 – 15. The film will be presented in person by Consuelo Doris Diaz, President of the Cuban Association of Haitian Descendants, who will travel to Haiti for the screenings.
Special public screening at 4pm on September 8th, International Literacy Day, at BANJ in Port-au-Prince: 514 Route de Delmas, Delmas 66
Portuguese
The Portuguese version of MAESTRA will premiere on Sept 26th at the Artefatos da Cultura Negra Congresso Internacional / Artefacts of Black Culture International Congress held at the Universidade Regional do Cariri – URCA in the northeastern state of Ceara, Brazil. We are also working with Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement / Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) to make the Portuguese subtitled version available to their literacy and education programs.
More Multi-lingual Versions
Greek: A Greek version premiered in Athens on April 18.
German: A German subtitled version launched at the Havana Literacy Museum in May.
Vietnamese & Japanese: We have pending requests for Japanese and Vietnamese language versions and are determining how to move forward with those requests.
TEACH
First Chapter Premiering in October
We continue to raise funds to support our work documenting social justice literacy across the Americas. Follow us on social media, share with friends, and please consider making a donation to support our work.
They Say I’m Your Teacher will premiere at the UN Association Film Festival – UNAFF 2019: Scales of Justice – held October 17 – 29 in the San Francisco Bay Area.
CRUZADA
Our documentary about the 1980 Nicaraguan Literacy Crusade is currently on hold, but we hope to pick it back up in late 2020. Write to us for more information.
We continue to raise funds to support our work documenting social justice literacy across the Americas. Follow us on social media, share with friends, and please consider making a donation to support our work.
Please support the distribution of this film by making a donation via PayPal.
donate
Donations over $250 are tax deductible if paid to our fiscal sponsor Women Make Movies, www.wmm.com
