Video in the Villages

Brazil-based Video in the Villages works to bring an understanding of the power of TV technology to indigenous peoples as an empowering tool in their fight to preserve their lands and ways of life. The Video in the Villages project is an ongoing series that grew out of the frustrating experiences the native Brazilian Waiãpi had with ethnographic film and video shoots in their villages. Initiated in 1985 by husband and wife Vincent Carelli and Virginia Valadão through the Centro de Trabalho Indigenista in São Paulo (the project has been independent since 2000), the project has had a profound effect on native image and self-image, inter-tribal relations, and relations with white institutions. Through the project, members of several native groups learn about video technology and participate in the production and editing of the videotapes to represent themselves and their cultures. Carelli continues to collaborate with indigenous media makers; Valadão died in 1998.