IONA HOGENDOORN
Photographer, filmmaker, visual storyteller
VOICES PROJECT- THE AMAZON- THE LIVING FOREST
In Sarayaku, Ecuador, the Indigenous Kichwa have succesfully implemented a national law for the rights of nature, called Kawsak Sacha, or the Living Forest.
It is a spiritual and environmental proposal to Ecuador, and the world, to see ecosystems as integrated organisms and defend the rights of nature. The jungle needs to be kept like it is for us to survive as a human species. The question is if this law is respected, as many companies have been and are eying and preying on
this pristine territory, where spirit still is alive.
This small film was made for the promotion of this concept. It forms part of the project "Voices of the Amazon" (Work in Progress), an audiovisual social media project and exhibition about indigenous messages for the world and a proposal to discuss our view of nature, rather than searching for technological solutions.
RAMALLAH ROAD (TRAILER)
Ramallah Road is a poetic documentary that shows the living conditions of the Palestinians in Al-Ram, near Ramallah on the West Bank. They find themselves limited and disempowered by the wall and the checkpoint erected by Israel. Economic malaise, hopelessness and boredom rule the road that once used to be the main economic vein of Al-Ram, connecting Jerusalem and Ramallah. Through this annexation of Jerusalem by the wall, the Palestinians have not only lost their land but also their ties to fellow Palestinians.
Simultaneously, a team of sprayers are spraying a 2.5 km letter on the wall in Al-Ram. It stretches all the way to Ramallah, where it almost touches the infamous Qalandia checkpoint. The letter was written by Farid Esack, a South African anti-apartheids activist and friend of Nelson Mandela. This project was set up by the Dutch organization Send a Message and a Palestinian youth organization to show the world the real situation in Palestine in a non-violent way. Both street interviews and explanations of the political situation by experts (given by Michael Warschawski, an Israeli activist of the Alternative Information Centre in Jerusalem, and Imad Sabi, Palestinian political refugee in the Netherlands) give us a brief impression of the situation. What is the right way to resist after 40 years of hopeless struggle?
More info on the film and screenings on www.ramallahroad.com
About Send a Message: www.sendamessage.nl
CITY ONE MINUTES- UNSEEN THE FACADE
Not a standard recording of reality, but a special view of a detail, a shadow, a worn staircase, a completely renovated floor, wrongly restored window frame, the real canal green; a visual story that gives a new insight into canal houses.
One minute videos researching life (historically) in over 100 Amsterdam canal houses were presented by the artists at the Goethe-Institut Amsterdam in March 2014.
Unseen Behind the Façade is a joint initiative of The One Minutes, Gerrit Rietveld Academie/Sandberg Instituut and the Amsterdam Museum.
For this series, I made a 1 minute film on the Herengracht together with Federico Campanale.
For more info about the project www.unseenbehindthefacade.com