TONIGHT!!! La Peña Cultural Center presents El Velo de Berta / The Veil of Berta

A film by director Esteban Larraín about the Mapuche resistance to the Ralco Dam on the Bio Bio River in Chile. Jeannette Paillán, Mapuche filmmaker and producer of the film will be at the screening for a Q&A period. Wednesday, November 16, 2005. 7:30pm. Suggested Donation: $5 - no one turned away for lack of funds. At La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley, CA. 510-849-2568 www.lapena.org

The Veil of Berta, is a delicate narration of the story of Berta Quintreman, an elderly indigenous women who at the age of 88 lead the last group opposing the constrtuction of the Ralco project, a gigantic dam that will stop the flow of the Bio Bio River, and flood the land where her native Mapuche Pewenche community, Ralco Lepoy, have lived for centuries.

A woman with a strong personality and a unique blend of humor and energy, Berta lives alone on her small pieces of land, and observes all the traditions of her people. On a daily basis she greets the trees and the sun, takes mate (a typical herbal tea) with her dead and says her prayers. But at the same time she confronts the authorities of Endesa and the government, manages to halt the machinery and works together with other families to prevent the flooding of their land.

Awards
Joris Ivens Competition IDFA 2004- Holland
Ramsar - Award, Best Documentary
V Festival Ecofilms, Greece
1st Mention of the Jury 3 Continents Film Festival, Italy

Jeannette Paillán, Director of the Mapuche community organization Lulul Mahuida, is a Mapuche filmmaker and journalist. She served as festival coordinator of the 7th Festival of Indigenous Film and Video (2004, Santiago, Chile). Her films have been screening internationally since 1994, and her documentary Wallmapu, the first documentary entirely directed and produced by Mapuche, was awarded at the 2003 Human Rights Film Festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina.