Please join us in congratulating Regina Harrison for being awarded the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) 2006 “Award of Merit in Film,” which is given for “excellence in the visual presentation of educational and artistic materials on Latin America.” The award will be presented at the LASA meeting in Puerto Rico (March 16-18, 2006).
Prof. Harrison produced, scripted, and filmed a 40 minute documentary in English: “Mined to Death” (with subtitles), which also exists in a Spanish version titled “Mina adentro” (with subtitles). The documentary depicts miners in Potosi, Bolivia, who extract silver, zinc, and lead from the mountain in the same precarious conditions as their ancestors did five centuries ago. Tourist agencies and transnational mining companies promise to bring in additional revenue for the miners, but it is apparent that the ‘rich’ mountain is dying.
Campus funding from CAPA, MITH, and ARHU DRI funds, as well as maintenance funds from Fulbright-Hays, helped defray the costs of several years of travel, filming, and
editing.
The film will screen at MITH next week, on February 14th as part of our Digital Dialogues series.