Pemón
Overview
This short film was made to spotlight the indigenous Pemón Chief Juvencio Gómez and his family who have been forced to migrate from their ancestral homelands due to invasive mining projects. This portrait uniquely reflects on stories of the Venezuelan Kumarakapay people and their rapidly changing culture. Due to Juvencio's exile from his homeland, this was filmed in the Roraima region of Northern Brazil (near the border of Venezuela). This is also the only known film to be recorded and presented entirely in the indigenous Pemón language of Taurepang.
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Director Biography - Brandon Pestano
Brandon is a writer and filmmaker of mixed Guyanese/English heritage and has been working for over 5 years with London based production companies. His background is in spoken word poetry and he has performed at the National Portrait Gallery in London, UK. Two of his short poetry films have been featured by Extinction Rebellion's Writers Rebel website, the largest climate activism movement in the UK. Brandon has collaborated with BBC Ideas & Reel on informational videos, and has had two self written and narrated projects featured on the homepage of the BBC. Brandon first wrote & directed C4/Random Acts (Screen South) short poetry film 'Time Destroys Itself' which was exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, whilst he was undertaking his BA in filmmaking from Kingston University (UK). |
Director Statement
PEMÓN is a short film that I hope will influence people in the wider world about how the choices we all face as consumers of energy (oil and hydro-electricity) and mining commodities (such as gold) have a direct personal cost to families and communities.
I was drawn to co-create a short documentary that reflected my Guyanese heritage, especially after the discovery of oil off the coast of Guyana and its potential negative impact on the most vulnerable people in the region.
Starting initially as a fully animated short story based on indigenous myths, myself, Elmaz Ekrem (Animation Director) and Paul DuBois (Producer) were awarded funds through the BFI Animation Development Fund (2020) to explore the traditions of the Pemón Indigenous people in the upper North-East of South America.
As the documentary team explored the local legends, social issues and its environmental impact in the area, it became clear that the most often ignored interests were of the Indigenous People of the Gran Sabana: through the low safety standards in mining, no meaningful consultation about international interests in the Pemón traditional lands, serious and potentially catastrophic environmental damage as well as regular exploitation of legal loopholes for energy and mining companies to ensure their own financial interests were secured.
Director Statement Download Images Due to the remoteness of the mountainous area of Mount Roraima and Angel Falls, we realized that the Mining Arc of Venezuela had already marginalized a critical group of the Pemón People. Horrified by the practices of the Maduro Government, especially when Venezuela was suffering hyper-inflation and food shortages in the past five years, we decided to reach out to the Pemon community of Kumarakapay.
We connected directly with Chief Juvencio Gómez, working alongside Dr. Iokiñe Rodriguez, we started co-creating a documentary that both reflected the current challenges of an exiled leader and the history of the Pemón Peoples of the Kumarakapay. We were able to connect with Juvencio and his family as he was forced to emigrate into Northern Brazil. Juvencio was determined to continue to put pressure on International corporations and the Venezuelan Government to respect his heritage and ensure that the Pemón People could still act as responsible guardians to the lands that their ancestors had entrusted to them.
I am also proud to be part of the PEMÓN team as we have been able to present the first documentary short to be filmed entirely in the Pemón Language of the Kumarakapay. We have also included an animation sequence that forms part of the Pemón Origin Legend THE TREE OF LIFE as told by Chief Juvencio. We hope that by capturing this part of the Pemón creation story, we can ensure their language and ancestral lineage can survive for many future generations to come
PEMÓN is a short film that I hope will influence people in the wider world about how the choices we all face as consumers of energy (oil and hydro-electricity) and mining commodities (such as gold) have a direct personal cost to families and communities.
I was drawn to co-create a short documentary that reflected my Guyanese heritage, especially after the discovery of oil off the coast of Guyana and its potential negative impact on the most vulnerable people in the region.
Starting initially as a fully animated short story based on indigenous myths, myself, Elmaz Ekrem (Animation Director) and Paul DuBois (Producer) were awarded funds through the BFI Animation Development Fund (2020) to explore the traditions of the Pemón Indigenous people in the upper North-East of South America.
As the documentary team explored the local legends, social issues and its environmental impact in the area, it became clear that the most often ignored interests were of the Indigenous People of the Gran Sabana: through the low safety standards in mining, no meaningful consultation about international interests in the Pemón traditional lands, serious and potentially catastrophic environmental damage as well as regular exploitation of legal loopholes for energy and mining companies to ensure their own financial interests were secured.
Director Statement Download Images Due to the remoteness of the mountainous area of Mount Roraima and Angel Falls, we realized that the Mining Arc of Venezuela had already marginalized a critical group of the Pemón People. Horrified by the practices of the Maduro Government, especially when Venezuela was suffering hyper-inflation and food shortages in the past five years, we decided to reach out to the Pemon community of Kumarakapay.
We connected directly with Chief Juvencio Gómez, working alongside Dr. Iokiñe Rodriguez, we started co-creating a documentary that both reflected the current challenges of an exiled leader and the history of the Pemón Peoples of the Kumarakapay. We were able to connect with Juvencio and his family as he was forced to emigrate into Northern Brazil. Juvencio was determined to continue to put pressure on International corporations and the Venezuelan Government to respect his heritage and ensure that the Pemón People could still act as responsible guardians to the lands that their ancestors had entrusted to them.
I am also proud to be part of the PEMÓN team as we have been able to present the first documentary short to be filmed entirely in the Pemón Language of the Kumarakapay. We have also included an animation sequence that forms part of the Pemón Origin Legend THE TREE OF LIFE as told by Chief Juvencio. We hope that by capturing this part of the Pemón creation story, we can ensure their language and ancestral lineage can survive for many future generations to come
Still Photos
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