Iara Lee facts for kids
Iara Lee (born in Ponta Grossa, Brazil, in 1966) is a Brazilian filmmaker, director, and activist. She is also of Korean descent. Iara mainly works on projects in the Middle East and Africa.
She has made many documentary films, including Unite for Bissau (Nô Kumpu Guiné) (2023), From Trash to Treasure: Turning Negatives into Positives (2020), and Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse (2020). Her films often focus on social issues and people's struggles. In 2010, Lee was involved in the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla," a group of boats trying to bring aid to Gaza, where there was a conflict with naval forces and some people were injured.
Iara Lee also started the Cultures of Resistance Network Foundation. She supports many important organizations like Greenpeace International, Amnesty International, and Doctors Without Borders.
Contents
Iara Lee's Film Journey
Iara Lee has had a long and interesting career in film.
Early Film Work
From 1984 to 1989, Iara was a producer for the São Paulo International Film Festival in Brazil. This festival is a big event for movies.
Later, from 1989 to 2003, she lived in New York. There, she ran her own company called Caipirinha Productions. This company mixed different art forms like film, music, and poetry. During this time, Iara directed several documentaries.
Her film Synthetic Pleasures (1995) looked at how new technology affects our everyday lives and culture. Another project, Modulations (1998), explored the history and development of electronic music. She also made Beneath the Borqa (2000), a short film about the lives of women and children in Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Documentaries About Resistance
In 2010, Iara Lee directed a longer documentary called Cultures of Resistance. This film celebrates how people use creative ways to fight for their rights and make changes. The movie was shown at many film festivals and won awards. It even screened in China, which was unusual because political resistance is not often shown in media there.
Iara continued to make films about important global issues. The Kalasha and the Crescent (2013) is a short film about the Kalash people in Pakistan. It shows how they are trying to protect their unique culture. The Suffering Grasses: when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers (2012) explored the conflict in Syria. It focused on the everyday people who had to leave their homes and live in refugee camps. Iara filmed parts of this movie while visiting Turkish refugee camps.
Exploring Global Stories
In 2015, Iara Lee released K2 and the Invisible Footmen. This film tells the story of the local porters who help climbers on K2, the world's second-highest mountain. These porters do very hard and dangerous work, but their efforts often go unnoticed.
That same year, she released Life Is Waiting: Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara. This documentary showed the daily challenges and struggles of people living in Western Sahara.
In 2018, she made two films about Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa. Burkinabè Rising: The Art of Resistance in Burkina Faso looked at how art is used for resistance. Burkinabè Bounty: Agroecology in Burkina Faso explored farming methods that protect the environment.
Her film Wantoks: Dance of Resilience in Melanesia (2019) featured artists and activists in Melanesia. They are working to protect their homes from rising sea levels and fight for their independence.
Recent Films
In 2020, Iara released Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse. This documentary explored the unique culture that has grown in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, many years after the nuclear disaster. Later that year, she released From Trash to Treasure: Turning Negatives into Positives. This film showed how artists in Lesotho use creativity to turn old items into new treasures. She also started a short film series called Dispatches from Malawi.
Her 2023 documentary, Unite for Bissau (Nô Kumpu Guiné), focuses on women in Guinea-Bissau. It shows how they are building strong communities and promoting self-sufficiency through eco-friendly farming.
Iara Lee's Activism
Iara Lee is also a dedicated activist. She uses her work to support important causes around the world.
Cultural Exchange and Support
In 2008, Iara traveled to Iran. She helped with projects that brought together Iranian and Western cultures. Her goal was to use arts and culture to build understanding and friendship between people globally. For example, she helped produce a music video for an Iranian rapper named Hichkas.
Iara has also strongly supported efforts to stop the building of the Belo Monte mega-dam in Brazil. This dam project on the Xingu River, a major part of the Amazon, would force many people to move. It would also harm a large area of the rainforest and threaten local tribes. In 2009, she released a short film about this issue called Battle for the Xingu.
In 2020, Iara Lee started the Cultures of Resistance Awards. These awards support creative activism and artistic projects that help society, especially in countries in the global South. By 2024, over 200 awards had been given out.
Gaza Freedom Flotilla
In 2010, Iara Lee was part of the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla." This was a group of boats carrying aid and activists heading to Gaza. During the event, there was a conflict with naval forces, and some people were injured. Iara's video footage from the event was later shared at the United Nations.
Filmography
- Dispatches from Malawi (2020), short film series
- From Trash to Treasure: Turning Negatives into Positives (2020)
- Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse (2020)
- Wantoks: Dance of Resilience in Melanesia (2019)
- Burkinabè Bounty: Agroecology in Burkina Faso (2018), short film
- Burkinabè Rising: The Art of Resistance in Burkina Faso (2018), feature documentary
- The Kalasha and the Crescent (2013), short film
- The Suffering Grasses (2012), feature documentary
- Cultures of Resistance (2010), feature documentary
- Battle for the Xingu (2009), short film
- Modulations: Cinema for the Ear (1998), feature documentary
- Synthetic Pleasures (1995), feature documentary
- Unite for Bissau (Nô Kumpu Guiné): agroecology and feminism in Guinea Bissau (2023), short film
Interviews
- "Iara Lee: Through the Lens of an Activist", Quotes Magazine, 2020
- "Iara Lee veut toucher les coeurs", Subtile, 2020
- "Q&A Politics: Iara Lee", Dazed and Confused, 2012
- "Syria: Thirst for Revenge Among Refugees in Turkey, Warns Radical Filmmaker Iara Lee", International Business Times UK, June 2012
- Interview with Iara Lee about her footage from the Mavi Marmara by Democracy Now!, June 2010
- "TEO MACERO: Interview by Iara Lee", MODULATIONS, September 1997
- "Jon More Matt Black: Coldcut Interview by Iara Lee", Modulations, Summer 1997
