Film Screenings
In Collaboration with Bringing The Circle Together and The National Center for the Preservation of Democracy: A Free Screening of Ixoq
Film Screenings
In Collaboration with Bringing The Circle Together and The National Center for the Preservation of Democracy: A Free Screening of Ixoq
Ixoq documents the struggles of women during the armed conflict as well as their current efforts to build an inclusive society where they can participate. Mayan musical guests Princesas del Mundo Maya, will begin the night, and following the film Felipe Perez (the filmmaker) and IxchelMultimedia (producer) will speak about the film.
Sponsors for the night include Hecho de Mano Mayan Culture, Japanese American National Museum, Bird man Pet Shop, Department of Cultural Affairs.
Background, Guatemala, a country where wealth has historically been held in the hands of a small number of families, has been governed by one set of descendents of the Spaniards one after another. Yet the majority Mayan population, in different eras and under varying conditions, has risen up to change this situation of slavery and poverty. The Mayans survived the first holocaust of our history. But in the late 1970s, when Guatemala’s armed opposition took root in Mayan territory, an extermination policy was unleashed. Referred to as the second holocaust, it had atrocities that reached alarming levels towards the end of the last century, as the country’s 36-year civil war drew to a close (1960-1996). Official statistics record 626 massacres, including 440 Mayan communities wiped off the map, the death of more than 200,000 persons, and the disappearance of another 450,000. 50,000 widows and 500,000 orphans were left behind, and more than one million human beings were displaced. Mayan peoples accounted for 83% of the fully identified victims.
The current situation for the Mayan peoples shows little progress. 48% of the Mayan population over the age of 15 is illiterate. 51% of the Guatemalan population is female. Illiteracy among Mayan women is 76%. On an average, Mayan women who are able to read and write have only one year of schooling. Each year 100,000 Mayan children enter the labor force, 56.4% of whom are between the age of 5 and 14.
Sponsors for the night include Hecho de Mano Mayan Culture, Japanese American National Museum, Bird man Pet Shop, Department of Cultural Affairs.
Sponsors for the night include Hecho de Mano Mayan Culture, Japanese American National Museum, Bird man Pet Shop, Department of Cultural Affairs.
Background, Guatemala, a country where wealth has historically been held in the hands of a small number of families, has been governed by one set of descendents of the Spaniards one after another. Yet the majority Mayan population, in different eras and under varying conditions, has risen up to change this situation of slavery and poverty. The Mayans survived the first holocaust of our history. But in the late 1970s, when Guatemala’s armed opposition took root in Mayan territory, an extermination policy was unleashed. Referred to as the second holocaust, it had atrocities that reached alarming levels towards the end of the last century, as the country’s 36-year civil war drew to a close (1960-1996). Official statistics record 626 massacres, including 440 Mayan communities wiped off the map, the death of more than 200,000 persons, and the disappearance of another 450,000. 50,000 widows and 500,000 orphans were left behind, and more than one million human beings were displaced. Mayan peoples accounted for 83% of the fully identified victims.
The current situation for the Mayan peoples shows little progress. 48% of the Mayan population over the age of 15 is illiterate. 51% of the Guatemalan population is female. Illiteracy among Mayan women is 76%. On an average, Mayan women who are able to read and write have only one year of schooling. Each year 100,000 Mayan children enter the labor force, 56.4% of whom are between the age of 5 and 14.
Sponsors for the night include Hecho de Mano Mayan Culture, Japanese American National Museum, Bird man Pet Shop, Department of Cultural Affairs.