March 2011
 Vincent Carelli is a documentary film director and editor and the founder and director of Vídeo nas Aldeias/Video in the Villages (VNA) in Olinda, Brazil. VNA works closely with indigenous communities to provide video production training, annual workshops for Native videomakers in regional locations, equipment access and post-production support, and international distribution of the work. VNA productions, numbering more than 70, have been screened widely, representing videomakers from more than 15 indigenous communities in Brazil. In 2008 the showcase “Video Amazônia Indígena: A View from the Villages” was organized by the NMAI Film and Video Center. Carelli, VNA’s then-codirector Mari Corrêa, and five indigenous directors traveled to the U.S. to present their works at NMAI and other venues in New York and Washington, D.C. A major retrospective of VNA works, “Um Olhar Indígena/Through Indian Eyes,” was held in Rio de Janeiro in 2004 and in Brasilia in 2006. For its work, in 1999 VNA received the UNESCO Prize at the 6th Mostra Internacional do Filme Etnográfico in Rio de Janeiro.
As an independent filmmaker, Carelli has received numerous awards. In 2009 his feature documentary, Corumbiara, which focuses on genocide in Rôndonia and the fate of survivors, received the top award for Best Film at the 37th Festival de Cinema de Gramado. It also won Best Film at the 4th Festival de Cinema Latino Americano in Saõ Paulo. Meeting Ancestors, an early documentary which brought together two tribes related by language who had never met, won prizes at the 16th Tokyo Video Festival and the Cinema du Reel in Paris. Carelli has worked independently on other projects, including working with Xavánte videomakers in the Mato Grosso to develop programs for television. In 2000 he produced the series Índios do Brasil, ten videos for TV Escola of Brazil’s Ministry of Education. The series, of which 10,000 copies were distributed in public schools, was also shown regularly on public TV channels.
"What you see is that this new technology is very, very
close to the elders. The young people are very enthusiastic because
it's technology, but the elders realize that through these technologies—they
don't have access to pen and paper, they don't write, but they
can understand images and sound—and the elders who have a
cultural project or political proposal have understood very quickly
that this could be very useful for them. Technology and tradition
are very close. It might sound like a contradiction but it's not."
Screened by NMAI
Image credit: Vincent
Carelli - courtesy of Vídeo nas Aldeias; Vincent Carelli
- courtesy of Vídeo nas Aldeias |
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