May 26 Proclaimed Official “Garifuna Film Day” by the City of Los Angeles and the State of California
WHERE: Electric Lodge Performing Arts
1416 Electric Avenue
Venice CA, zip?
WHEN: May 22 to May 25 10:00Am t0 10:00 PM
There’s something about the critically acclaimed Garifuna Film Festival that’s capturing attention from filmmakers, musicians and artists from all over the world. By now, the 4TH Annual Garifuna Film Festival is considered an international tower of strength and a major galvanizing force for unity amongst nations. The festival’s focus has always been to give a message of hope and solidarity with conflicting countries and cultures proving they could work together both productively and creatively. International creators are crediting Garifuna as a multi-sensory, multi-modal, multi-literate experience to give new voice to native literacy, pride and identity.
The goal is to heal the divide between nations thereby transcending petty politics and borders .
Garifuna’s child, Founder and Director Freda Sideroff, is to her heritage born and bred, She is well known for cracking the pavement, making new ground for her Garifuna International film festival. Realizing what it it means to be stripped of her native culture, heritage, and language–because of the colonialist’s need to assimilate native Indigenous cultures and deny them their priceless facets of heritage, she forged the Garifuna Foundation to help children academically as research shows that those who are immersed in their cultures perform better, have higher self-esteem, and lead more productive and happy lives.
Guest Speaker: Marianne Williamson is an American spiritual teacher, author and lecturer. She has published ten books, including four New York Times number one bestsellers. She is the founder of Project Angel Food, a meals-on-wheels program that serves homebound people with AIDS in the Los Angeles area, and the co-founder of The Peace Alliance, a grass roots campaign supporting legislation to establish a United States Department of Peace. She serves on the Board of Directors of the RESULTS organization, which works to end poverty in the United States and around the world. Williamson is also the force behind Sister Giant, a series of seminars and teaching sessions that provides women with the information and tools needed to be political candidates. Through these seminars,[3] she encourages women to run for office and align their politics with their spiritual values.
Guest Speaker Deena Metzger is a poet, novelist and essayist, a healer and teacher. The state of the earth and the fate of animals and other non-human beings has been at the core of her work. She is known for her pioneering work on Story and healing. She introduced Daré, which means Council in the Shona language to North America. The Topanga Daré relies on Council, alliance with Spirit and the natural world, ancestor work, indigenous and wisdom traditions and teachings, to achieve personal transformation, community healing and social change. In 2004, she began developing ReVisioning Medicine and recently she has been imagining a Literature of Restoration. She has authored many books and her last published novel, La Negra y Blanca won the 2012 Oakland PEN award for literature.
Hostess Helena Cardona is a citizen of the world, calling the United States, France and Spain home. Fluent in five languages she is a graduate of American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Actor’s Studio in New York. With over 55 films to her credit, Sydney Pollack was so impressed with Helena, he based the Nicole Kidman character in The Interpreter (2005) in part on Cardona‘s life by making her a Sorbonne linguist and a musician. For Serendipity (2001), she co-wrote with director Peter Chelsom and composer Alan Silvestri the song Lucienne, which she also sang.
Host Police Chief Joseph Paulino San Bernardino City Schools and VectorUSA made SBC schools safer, more secure and saved money His strong ties in the San Bernardino community, his problem-solving skills, and his passion for making a positive difference in the lives of students is making him a role model throughout California. As police chief ,he oversees a department of 26 sworn police officers, 55 campus security officers, and more than 10 support staff. The department is responsible for ensuring the safety of the district’s 53,000 students and protecting district property.
James LoveLL Belize
Is a passionate educator, activist, multi-instrumentalist and ardent language and culture conservationist. James has worked to safeguard traditional music, dance and language by sharing Garifuna culture with captivated audiences around the world
Consulate General of Belize Hon. Roland Yorke.
Mariam Nahapetyan MPA Mental Health Service Coordinator II Outreach and Engagement Department of Mental Health, Service Area 5 SPONSOR
OPENING CERMONY “Danza Temachita Quetzalcoatl” is the resident Aztec dance group for Tia Chucha’s Centro, a cultural arts center located in the North East San Fernando Valley.
List of WORKSHOP PRESENTERS ,PERFORMERS AND ARTISTSTO BE FEATURED at GIFF in May ,RECORDING ARTIST JAMES LOVELL, RECORDING ARTIST KAYLA MARIN ,RECORDING ARTIST ALIZA HAVA , PUNTA CARTEL BAND , CULCHA JAM PERFORMING GROUP , GUEWIE POSSIE BAND , GARIFUNA CHOIR OF LOS ANGELES AND Son Valleros and The Little Jaraneros-
NAZIM ARTIST , PENNY SLINGER , KAREN REDDING , EULOGIA PENNY GOREE ,WAI-SIN TONG DARBONNE AND GREG ULMAR PALACIO .
Workshop presenters :Filmmakers Aleks Munoz FYI FILMS , Filmmakers Ali Allie’ and Ruben Reyes .