Welcome! A few years ago, I presented a paper on indigenous film and video in Latin America (Domínguez, Daisy. “Indigenous Film and Video in Latin America: Starting Points for  Collection Development.” In Women in Latin American Studies: Reshaping the Boundaries, edited by Angela M. Carreño, 81-108. Tulane  University: Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials Papers XLIX, 2008). My paper was geared toward librarians who want to build Latin American indigenous film and video collections. (Although “indigenous film and video” can be strictly interpreted as film and video created by Indian people, I also include films that feature native people.) Since then, the appendix listing producers, distributors, catalogs and festivals has become outdated. I began this blog in order to pick up where I left off, creating a more current and expanded version of that appendix and linking to it from this blog. So what will this blog do?

Indigenous film and video is still not part of the mainstream viewing experience of most Americans (throughout all of the Americas) and probably other parts of the world as well. Since I live in the NYC area, I have been lucky enough to view some pretty cool indigenous films and videos at the National Museum of the American Indian that others might not have had the opportunity to view. Then there are other movies that I hear about through different grapevines and which are more accessible to all. I thought I could help get the word out about these animations, documentaries and feature films by reviewing them. I really like to watch them so I figure you may be motivated to seek them out for yourself or for your library as a result. I am not a cinema major, just love film and seeing more representation of native cultures on the screen. In addition to reviews, I will also post summaries of related scholarly literature and information on related happenings and issues. So … I hope it’s helpful and helps spread the word about indigenous productions (and I hope I continue to have access to the films so I can keep reviewing).

On a totally unrelated note, I want to give a shout out to Steve Ovadia who took pity on yours truly and helped guide me to my hosting service and my Word Press installation (they actually had a theme called Atahualpa so you know – or will know – that I will choose that one; the link to Ecuador sealed the deal). Thanks, man!