South-South Cooperation Now Triangulates with the North

Posted on March 23, 2019 by admin

Civil Society, Conferences, Development & Aid, Editors’ Choice, Featured, Global, Global Governance, Globalisation, Headlines, IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse, Latin America & the Caribbean, Poverty & SDGs, Regional Categories, TerraViva United Nations

South-South

The Second High-Level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation was held at the Exhibition and Convention Centre in the Argentine capital, forty years after the Conference on Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries produced the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA) in 1978. Credit: Daniel Gutman/IPS

BUENOS AIRES, Mar 23 2019 (IPS) – It sounds like a contradictory play on words, but the countries of the industrialised North are currently the big supporters of South-South cooperation, as was demonstrated at the United Nations Second High-Level Conference on this subject, held in the Argentine capital.

If there is one thing that the three-day meeting in Buenos Aires, which ended on Friday Mar. 22, made clear, it is that the space created 40 years ago as an arena for mutual assistance and exchange of experiences among countries of the South, aimed at mutually promoting their development, no longer belongs only to them and has in fact become triangular.

Francisco Quintanar is a Salvadoran engineer who was in the Argentine capital to participate in the conference – not as a representative of El Salvador, but as part of the German delegation attending the meeting, which brought together 1,500 representatives from 193 countries.

“In the past, triangular cooperation was seen simply as a way of adding funding to South-South collaborative projects, but in which donors were passive actors. Now, instead, we do joint projects.” — Noel González Segura

He came to tell the story of an energy efficiency project born in February 2016, which benefited 10 textile, chemical and other companies in El Salvador and Nicaragua. The initiative was developed with technical assistance from Mexican experts and German funding.

“The Salvadoran companies were able to reduce their energy consumption by the equivalent of 2.5 million dollars a year thanks to this project, so the positive result was not only economic but also environmental,” Quintanar told IPS.

“This is an example of triangular cooperation: Germany provided the resources, Mexico provided technical expertise, and El Salvador and Nicaragua were the beneficiaries,” he added.

Hundreds of similar projects were exhibited at events parallel to the conference, which was inaugurated on Wednesday, Mar. 20 by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, along with Argentine President Mauricio Macri, and featured South-South/North triangular cooperation.

The meeting took place forty years after the U.N. Conference on Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries, held in 1978 also in Buenos Aires, when the last military dictatorship of this South American country (1976-1983), responsible for serious human rights violations, was at the height of its power.

In the midst of the Cold War, that conference was characterised as an effort by countries in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia, aimed at strengthening their negotiating power and making their voices heard more on the international stage, while at the same time promoting mutual cooperation between their countries and regions.

The result of the 1978 conference was the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA), which built a bridge of political collaboration and economic and social cooperation among developing countries in what is now called the global South.

Salvadoran engineer Francisco Quintanar (L) was part of the German delegation that attended the South-South Cooperation Conference in Buenos Aires. His project on energy efficiency is an example of triangular cooperation between countries of the South, with the support of one or more countries of the industrialised North. Credit: Daniel Gutman/IPS

Forty years later, in the gigantic lobby of the Buenos Aires Exhibition and Convention Centre, a two-storey underground building inaugurated less than two years ago, it looked like just another international meeting, similar to any other major U.N. conference.

On the stage of the High Level Conference, known in U.N. slang as BAPA+40, the sober suits of the diplomats from Japan, Norway or Switzerland contrasted with the colourful outfits of the African representatives.

And in the exhibition hall the participants could visit the stands of the Spanish or German development aid agencies, or the stand of Argentina’s Foreign Ministry, since it does not have a cooperation agency.

“The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the climate agenda make it necessary for the world to work in a very different way than it has in the past,” said Marc-André Blanchard, Canada’s permanent representative to the U.N.

“Neither the North nor the South can do it alone. That’s why Canada was so eager to be here,” he told IPS.

“Think of foreign aid to emerging countries. It is essential for them, but it is only two percent of the money needed to implement Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development,” which is articulated in the 17 SDGs, he added.

Blanchard concluded: “We need to find the remaining 98 percent and we can only do that with new forms of collaboration. That’s why countries in the South need countries like Canada as partners.”

The South-South Cooperation Conference was accompanied by a number of parallel events, organised for example by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP), which discussed how to promote direct farmer-to-farmer cooperation among developing countries. Credit: Daniel Gutman/IPS

“We have knowledge or financial resources, but they are limited,” admitted Noel González Segura, director of planning at the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation.

“So through triangular cooperation with a traditional partner like the United States, Germany or Spain, we can multiply our capacity for action in favour of third countries,” he told IPS.

According to González Segura, “in the past, triangular cooperation was seen simply as a way of adding funding to South-South collaborative projects, but in which donors were passive actors. Now, instead, we do joint projects.”

“So, for example, the Germans come with money, knowledge and proposals, we add an international organisation and together we build a stronger partnership,” he said.

The Final Document of the Buenos Aires Conference, which unusually was distributed before the beginning of the meeting, speaks of the need to “better understand triangular cooperation and to provide more evidence and rigorous information on its magnitude, scope and effects.”

The text, signed by heads of delegations and senior government representatives, argues that triangular cooperation “offers an adaptable and flexible approach to the evolving problems of development.”

One of the cases reported during the conference was the cooperation of technicians from the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) of Argentina to help rural Haitians improve their ability to grow food after the devastation caused by Hurricane Jeanne, which in 2004 left more than 3,000 dead in the Caribbean island nation.

“After the tragedy there was a tremendous lack of fresh food. We traveled and worked there with Haitian technicians and 4,000 volunteers, 60 percent of whom were women,” said Francisco Zelaya, a technician at INTA, which depends on the Secretariat of Agroindustry.

“We reached 40,000 families and developed 13 local species of seeds,” he told IPS.

Zelaya said that “Argentina did not have the financial capacity to collaborate on a project like this. So the initiative was planned with Canada, which acted as a funder because it has a particular interest in Haiti, since it tends to receive many migrants from that country.”

For Roberto Ridolfi, assistant to the Director-General of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), “we must abandon the idea that two countries in the South can make a wonderful agreement and then ask a third country to foot the bill.”

“What we need are triangles, in which everyone brings something and takes something away. Innovative forms of South-South cooperation must be found. If we want to replicate North-South collaboration projects, it will be difficult,” he told IPS.

“It is about finding ways to combine skills, money and human resources from the three sides of the triangle. We don’t want to measure everything by money, but development is supported by investment,” Ridolfi said.

He finds humans ‘too unpredictable’ — so he studies cougars for a living

Posted on March 20, 2019 by emandowa

My adviser, Heather Williams, was instrumental in helping me learn to be creative and think on my feet as a scientist. I was able to do field work with her for three years. It was just great. She knew that I was somewhat self-conscious of my academic capabilities and she said, “Here in the field, toughness and other things like that are what get you in; you’re a football player, and this is where you should shine.” So I really devoted myself to field work.

I learned that your GPA or GRE score won’t define your capabilities as a grad student or as a researcher. Learning that lesson was important because [in addition], there [already] aren’t that many people who look like me in the field. And so to know that intelligence can also be defined in a number of ways was heartening.

Clint Robins, right, as a child with his sister in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. (Photo provided by Clint Robins) — Clint Robins, right, as a child with his sister, Elsa Robins, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. (Photo provided by Clint Robins)

I’ve always been a little bit more interested in the big, cuddly, fuzzy things — but I did bird research [at Williams that] taught me a lot about difficult field work. You’re in remote locations, working long hours and having to pay attention while you’re collecting data. I also learned to work in a 50-meter-by-50-meter square for 12 straight hours, looking at birds, and not go crazy.

When I graduated, I applied to a bunch of grad programs and didn’t get into any; and then applied to a few jobs, and nothing landed there. I moved home and contacted the local dive shop that certified me at 12. They said, “We could use someone to teach dive classes, and we have trips that go down to the Caribbean. Do you think you’d be willing to get your dive masters this weekend. We can help you do that at cost?” I was sold. I worked for them for a while. And then I volunteered at the University of Minnesota Lion Lab, going through camera trap videos and identifying species. Someone at that lab had done work on a grizzly bear project in Montana and put in a good word for me. I did that, and then a Fulbright in Malawi.

I grew up listening to stories that my mom told me about the gorillas in Rwanda and the Rwandan genocide — a lot of people killing people, a lot of people killing wildlife. I thought about that when looking into grad schools. I thought, there’s got to be a way to create more balance as far as people being able to live with people, and with wildlife. I think that was a sort of childish sentiment at the time, but I looked at labs that explored predator-prey relationships with large carnivores and Aaron Wirsing’s predator ecology lab came up pretty quickly. [Washington] is a state that is by and large proud of its wildlife and eager to find ways to protect it and manage it effectively. I felt like Washington was the place to be.

There really aren’t that many African Americans doing fieldwork here in Western Washington, especially the kind of fieldwork I do. Most of my fieldwork occurs in managed forests — there’s mostly foresters and some Fish and Wildlife personnel. I love seeing them, and them me. They’re the ones who’ve helped me with my research. My guiding experienced helped me a bit with fieldwork, but by far, I’ve learned more from my adviser, Brian Kertson, who’s a carnivore scientist with WDFW [Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife]. For my whole first year in the field, we’d go out together every day and I got to watch what he did up close.

For my master’s degree, I looked at how urbanization impacts cougar foraging ecology. What is the probability that a cougar takes a domestic animal as urbanization increases? The truth is, cougars do eat urban prey like raccoons and coyotes, but they just don’t kill a lot of domestic animals. We found the more development you have, the greater chances that cougars are going to kill something that you don’t want them to kill — but almost 80 percent of their diet is deer. We were also able to demonstrate that those areas where cougars kill are exurban landscapes, and involve just a few cats. The behavior that we’re really worried about cougars exhibiting is unlikely in most areas.

University of Washington Ph.D. student Clint Robins on March 15, 2019. Robins is a part of the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences and focusing his research on cougar hunting behavior. (Photo by Dorothy Edwards/Crosscut)

Right now, I’m looking into the bear-cougar relationship in light of urbanization, because bears sometimes scavenge cougar kills. I’m curious as to whether urbanization decouples that relationship and instead bears are foraging on human resources more.

Cougar attacks on humans are rare. When they happen, it’s often because they misidentify the human as prey or there’s maybe something wrong with the cat — they’re malnourished or something like that. Unfortunately, you need collared animals to get data like this, which means that it takes years of work and a lot of community support and patience.

I’m sure that there’s been many times where I’m hiking in the woods where cougars have been either aware of my presence or have left because of it. I guess there’s another level of respect there, knowing that they are predators.

People Affected by Leprosy in Latin America Unite for Their Rights and Their Voice

Posted on March 14, 2019 by admin

Active Citizens, Civil Society, Conferences, Development & Aid, Editors’ Choice, Featured, Global Governance, Headlines, Health, Human Rights, IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse, Latin America & the Caribbean, Population, Regional Categories, TerraViva United Nations

Health

Family photo of part of the 111 participants in the First Latin American and Caribbean Assembly of Organisations of People Affected by Hansen’s Disease, on the steps of the Morisco Palace, the headquarters of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, which hosted the three-day meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 14 2019 (IPS) – With the decision to found a regional coalition to promote rights and greater participation in national and international forums and decisions, the First Latin American and Caribbean Assembly of Organisations of People Affected by Hansen’s disease, popularly known – and stigmatised – as leprosy, came to an end.

The final session of the meeting, on Mar. 14, approved 40 of the 58 proposals presented by the 111 participants in three days of debates at the headquarters of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, a renowned scientific, medical and epidemiological research centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

José Picanço, 46, separated from his family and taken as a newborn to an orphanage because his parents were diagnosed with the disease in 1972, is one of those affected whose right to reparations remains unfulfilled. His three siblings are in the same situation.

When the family was reunited eight years later, the father turned his back on the children. The mother took them in, but died shortly afterwards. “I only lived with her, a saint, for five months,” Picanço recalled, barely managing to hold in his tears while giving testimony at the meeting.

“Humiliated as the children of lepers, suffering bullying and sexual harassment, many of the other children who were with me at the orphanage fell into drug abuse and alcoholism. It was a holocaust,” he said. “I hit my brother on the head, not knowing he was my own brother.”

“Of the 15,000 to 20,000 children separated from their families, more than 80 percent suffer from depression,” said Picanço in an interview with IPS, detailing some of the damage caused by the old rule of segregating the people then called “lepers”.

Mandatory isolation was widespread around the world, during different historical periods, and continues in some countries, even though it is known that the disease is curable and that patients cease to be contagious shortly after starting treatment.

Officially, Brazil abolished this practice in 1976, although it actually lasted 10 more years. Its direct victims were compensated starting in 2007, but their children were not. The activists gathered in Rio de Janeiro called for working for policies of reparations for children separated from their families.

Their complaints and proposals will be taken to the World Congress of associations of people affected by leprosy in Manila in September, which will also receive contributions from Africa and Asia, approved at recent similar regional assemblies.

“The goal is to form a large network of activists, to strengthen the movement” for the eradication of the disease and for care and reparations for those affected, said Kiyomi Takahashi of the independent Nippon Foundation, which is driving this international process of debate and cooperation.

The meeting in Rio de Janeiro fostered “a high-level dialogue, the result of Morhan and Felehansen’s long history of activities,” the Japanese expert told IPS, referring to the Movement for the Reintegration of People Affected by Hanseniasis (Morhan) in Brazil, and the National Federation of Entities Affected by Leprosy or Hansen’s Disease (Felehansen) in Colombia, the two organisers of the regional meeting.

Brazilian activists José Picanço (front) and Evelyne Leandro testified about how Hansen’s disease affected them during a Latin American and Caribbean meeting in Rio de Janeiro. Picanço was separated from his parents when they were diagnosed with leprosy when he was born in 1972 and was only reunited with them eight years later, shortly before his mother died. Leandro wrote a book about the difficulties of being diagnosed with the disease in Germany, where she lives. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

“Morhan is my safe haven, to preach that separated children should be heard and have opportunities,” said Picanço, who explained that he joined the movement in 1992. Today he gives talks on the direct and indirect effects of the stigma still surrounding the disease, that is suffered by those affected and their families.

A blessing

The disease “was a blessing for me,” Isaias Dussan Weck, 50, the vice-president of the Colombian association Felehansen, told IPS without hesitation.

The diagnosis in 2006 destroyed him, he said. He lost the desire to work or to go out, he let his business of supplying cleaning products to companies go bankrupt, he even contemplated suicide. He ignored the stains on his body that did not prevent him from working and traveling, until they spread to his face, and he noticed that parts of his body were going numb.

He received treatment and was cured, left with only slight numbness in one arm and pains in his left leg.

But everything went badly for him until he was invited to meetings with other people affected by leprosy. “I began to understand, when I heard their testimonies and tears, why a young black girl with severe disabilities said that leprosy was a blessing to her,” Dussan said.

Activism for the benefit of those affected, against the stigma and the damage caused by the disease, in the association of the department of Huila, in southwestern Colombia, allowed him “to gain new meaning for life and to understand and practice love for my neighbour.”

“Helping and seeing a patient’s life improve is a wonderful emotion, and you help other people want to live,” he concluded. That new passion led him to Felehansen, where he took on leadership roles in the federation.

Irma Romero, 42, president of the Nuevo Amanecer Foundation in Barranquilla, on Colombia’s northern coast, had a similar experience. Her lengthy odyssey to a specialist’s diagnosis five years ago reveals the medical system’s shortcomings when it comes to detecting and treating the disease, also known as hanseniasis, which is still viewed by many as “a divine punishment.”

Romero stopped working in the textile industry due to disability and depression. “I couldn’t even walk,” she recalled. “I even denied God,” she told IPS.

Colombian activist Irma Romero, a native of the city of Barranquilla, sitting on the bus that transported the participants of the First Latin American and Caribbean Assembly of Organisations of People Affected by Hansen’s Disease, held Mar. 12-14 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

Treatment using medicinal herbs, self-medication, rejection by relatives, attempts to separate her from her two children and abandonment by her husband all formed part of her suffering, which did not end with her treatment and cure.

The only permanent physical effects are numbness in her hands and feet, and sciatic nerve pain. But the discrimination continued.

“My life changed when I joined the association of affected people” four years ago, she said. “There I found people who had things in common with me, and a newfound love of my neighbour that I did not feel before,” said the activist, who became president of the Foundation the following year and reconciled with God.

Her foundation currently has 60 members. In Barranquilla she estimates that there are “about 200 affected people, but many more are hidden.”

The foundation is one of the 10 associations that make up Felehansen, eight of which call the disease hanseniasis or Hansen’s disease, one of which uses the term leprosy, and another of which refers to disabled people and is made up of patients who received a very late diagnosis.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines leprosy – the term it uses – as an infectious and chronic disease “transmitted by air through droplets from the nose and mouth, during close and frequent contacts with untreated cases.” It also specifies that leprosy is “one of the least infectious diseases.”

WHO reports that in 2017 there were 211,009 new cases worldwide, according to official data from 159 countries. That amounts to 0.3 cases per 10,000 inhabitants, which means it classifies as having been “eliminated,” according to WHO criteria.

Change of name: another recommendation

Proposing hanseniasis as the official name for the disease is one of the proposals that came out of the Latin American meeting, headed by Brazil, which has already adopted it, even prohibiting the mention of leprosy in the health system since 1995.

They are different concepts, because leprosy and leper have very negative connotations of “dirt, plague, impurities and divine punishment,” strengthened by numerous mentions with that moral burden in the Bible, argued Faustino Pinto, one of Morhan’s national coordinators.

But the activists from Colombia are not convinced. “People only know leprosy, they don’t know it’s Hanseniasis. To explain the issue to the population, you have to mention leprosy,” argued Romero.

“It will be necessary to educate the new generations about the concept of Hansen,” the Norwegian doctor Gerhard Hansen who discovered the bacillus that causes the disease, because adults are not likely to forget the stigma, said Dussan. “It’s harder to unlearn than to learn,” he added.

Another proposal of the Latin American Assembly is to extend the current Committee for Assistance to Brazilian Immigrants Affected by Hanseniasis to all Latin Americans and people from the Caribbean, in addition to extending it to other regions.

The reference point in this is Evelyne Leandro, a 37-year-old Brazilian who has lived in Germany for nine years and had a lot of difficulties getting diagnosed with the disease in a country where it is very rare and where very few doctors are familiar with it.

She was helped by her mother’s suspicion, awakened in Brazil by an outreach campaign on the disease, and by the Institutes of Tropical Medicine in Germany.

Her case and those of other immigrants in Europe are recounted in her book “The Living Death: the struggle with a long forgotten disease”.

People Affected by Leprosy Still Face Stigma in Latin America

Posted on March 12, 2019 by admin

Civil Society, Conferences, Development & Aid, Editors’ Choice, Featured, Global Governance, Headlines, Health, Human Rights, IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse, Latin America & the Caribbean, Population, Regional Categories, TerraViva United Nations

Health

Kiyomi Takahashi of the independent Nippon Foundation explains the international movement for the rights of the victims of leprosy during the opening session of the First Latin American and Caribbean Meeting of Organisations of People Affected by Hansen’s Disease, held in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. The foundation is backing the process for the World Congress on Leprosy to be held in September. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

RÍO DE JANEIRO, Mar 12 2019 (IPS) – The First Latin American and Caribbean Meeting of Organisations of People Affected by Hansen’s Disease, more widely known as leprosy, seeks to exorcise stigma and discrimination. The meeting has brought together around a hundred activists in Brazil.

The rights and participation of these people in all aspects of the World Health Organisation‘s (WHO) Global Leprosy Strategy 2016-2020 are the themes of the meeting, taking place in Rio de Janeiro from Mar. 12-14.

The gathering will establish this region’s proposals, as did recent regional assemblies in Asia and Africa.

The goal is for all the experiences and proposals to converge towards the World Congress on Leprosy that will take place in the Philippines in September, Kiyomi Takahashi, of the independent Nippon Foundation, which is backing the entire process, stressed during the opening session.

Brazil is at the forefront of the debate because it is considered the only country that has failed to eliminate the disease and has the highest incidence worldwide, with 25,000 to 30,000 new cases each year, 95 percent of the total in the Americas, according to official data.

This is an unacceptable figure for “a curable disease that is treated free of charge in the public health system,” said Artur Custodio, coordinator of the Brazilian Movement for the Reintegration of People Affected by Hanseniasis (Morhan), which organised the Latin America meeting together with the Federation of Organisations of People Affected by Leprosy in Colombia.

In addition, Brazil stands out for abolishing the word leprosy, because it is historically laden with prejudice. Since 1995, Hanseniasis or Hansen’s disease is the official name of the disease, although the WHO and the United Nations in general tend to use the term leprosy.

Brazil is not considered to have “eliminated” the disease – a classification that is defined when the incidence is reduced to less than one case per 10,000 inhabitants, said Claudio Salgado, president of the Brazilian Hansenology Society.

The statistics distort the reality of a disease that remains hidden. The organisation points out that the number of cases dropped from 5.3 million in 1980 to 597,000 in 2001, to meet the WHO target of elimination by the year 2000.

Official data indicate that from 2003 to 2005 the number of cases fell 64.17 percent worldwide to 169,709, a result that is “impossible in epidemiology,” Salgado told IPS.

When a disease like hanseniasis is properly fought, its incidence falls steadily, but slowly and regularly, not abruptly, he noted.

What is hidden behind the figures, according to the expert, is shown by the case of Palmas, capital of the central Brazilian state of Tocantins, where an early diagnosis effort raised the incidence from 41.9 per 10,000 inhabitants to 219 per 10,000 between 2013 and 2016.

Participants at the First Latin American and Caribbean Meeting of Organisations of People Affected by Hansen’s Disease, from seven countries in the region, as well as international organisations. This is the first time that regional activists have met to propose policies in defence of the dignity of those affected by leprosy. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

This means, he argued, that when there is a clear decision to seriously address the disease, the numbers of people affected rise.

Another indicator from Brazil highlights an additional problem: there is 39 percent of “spontaneous demand” for treatment, which points to a lack of information and assistance. This is because spontaneous consultations occur in “advanced cases, with already apparent effects,” which are difficult to overcome, and sometimes incapacitating, Salgado said.

“The goal of elimination in 2000 had a positive effect of spurring initiatives and stimulating information and assistance. But declaring that it had been achieved led to an abandonment of commitments and actions,” said Salgado, a professor at the Federal University of Pará, in the northern Amazon region of Brazil.

“With that we are even losing knowledge, with reduced research in universities and reduced services. Compounded by the stigma of hanseniasis, a vicious circle is created and the tendency is for the incidence of the disease to grow again,” he concluded.

“There is a lack of research,” even to explain why the disease affects so many people in Brazil and why the prevalence drops when you cross the border, said Jorge Dominguez Sobrino, of Peru’s Health Ministry, which is working to fight leprosy in the province of Alto Amazonas, on the border with Ecuador.

“Perhaps genetic differences are a cause,” he told IPS.

In Peru the number of new cases points to “elimination,” but there is high prevalence in some provinces, especially in small towns. “There is a high hidden prevalence,” Dominguez Sobrino acknowledged.

Norah Salcedo of Bolivia (R) and Silvia Uieacu of Peru, who took part in the first meeting of people affected by Hansen’s disease or leprosy, complained about the poor care in their countries for people who have the disease. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

Early diagnosis is the primary right in relation to leprosy, agreed Salgado and Custodio. It will be necessary to revise and change some of the bases of the strategies to actually eliminate the disease, while some speak of “eradication”, with the reduction of new cases to zero.

One concern of the specialists is the identification of many cases in children, indicating contagion through undiagnosed family members or other people close to them.

A contradiction in the official data is precisely that many countries where “elimination” of leprosy has been declared, with a rate of less than one case per 10,000 inhabitants, have a worrying number of affected children.

In addition, where the prevalence is lower, such as in southern Brazil and other Latin American countries, the damage to affected persons is more serious due to late diagnosis, when effects such as loss of peripheral nerves, fingers or entire limbs are already irreversible.

Leprosy, a disease that has been present since time immemorial, is infectious and chronic, caused by the Mycobacterium leprae bacterium, as defined by the WHO, which specifies that it mainly affects the skin, peripheral nerves, the mucosa of the upper respiratory tract, the eyes and other structures.

Norah Salcedo, from the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, suffered irreversible damage to limbs and needs crutches. “There is no adequate treatment in my country, the sick continue to decline, without assistance,” she complained to IPS.

Bolivia is a country that “eliminated” leprosy, according to official data. Salcedo, as well as Silvia Uieacu of Peru, acknowledged that there is a great lack of knowledge about the disease.

Seven Latin American countries are represented at this first Regional Meeting, which brings together health officials and representatives of international entities, such as the Pan-American Health Organisation, and institutions from Japan – especially the Nippon Foundation – Germany and the United States.

Brazil also attracts international attention for compensating the victims of the segregation system in the so-called leprosariums where the sick were isolated. This practice was maintained by law in the country until 1986, although the possibility of a cure had been known since 1941 and it was clear that with treatment, the people affected by the disease were no longer contagious.

Since 2007, the Brazilian state has been compensating people who were isolated, but now the Morhan organisation is seeking to extend reparation to children who were separated from their parents. It is estimated that around 16,000 children suffered this forced separation.

These policies are of interest to similar movements in other Latin American countries, participants explained during the first day’s debates.

Many of the people segregated in these “colonies” continue to live in them, even after they were no longer isolated, because they have no chance of returning to their places of origin or rebuilding their lives, activists say.

Innovative Sustainable Business: A Three Trillion-Dollar Opportunity that UN Environment Wants People to Develop

Posted on March 12, 2019 by admin

Africa, Climate Change, Conferences, Economy & Trade, Editors’ Choice, Environment, Featured, Global, Green Economy, Headlines, IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse, Natural Resources, Regional Categories, Sustainability, TerraViva United Nations, Trade & Investment

Environment

Achenyo Idachaba-Obaro, the founder of Mitimeth, a social enterprise that has trained hundreds of women on how to make popular handicrafts from water hyacinth. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

NAIROBI, Mar 12 2019 (IPS) – In the East African region, communities around the continent’s largest water body, Lake Victoria, regard the water hyacinth as a great menace that clogs the lake and hampers their fishing activities. But in Lagos, Nigeria, some groups of women have learned how to convert the invasive weed into a resource, providing them with the raw material needed to make handicrafts.

“Our biggest challenge right now is the market where these women can sell their finished products from the water hyacinth,” said Achenyo Idachaba-Obaro, the founder of Mitimeth, a social enterprise that has trained hundreds of women on how to make popular handicrafts from water hyacinth.

Dressed in a blouse partly made of fabric from water hyacinth and buttons made from a coconut shell at the ongoing United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi, Kenya, Idachaba-Obaro showcased several products made from the aquatic weed ranging from boutique dresses, unique multipurpose baskets, vases, stationery, wall decor, and dining ware, among others.

“All these items are a product of handcrafts by women whom we have trained, and they are now able to generate extra income from a weed that is seen as a menace to many other people worldwide,” she told IPS.

So far, over 350 women, comprising mostly of widows but who also include students and teachers, from riparian rural communities have been trained on how to make finished products from water hyacinth, and they all sell them locally.

“Whenever we have a ready market, we always call on them to make water hyacinth ropes for us, which is the first stage of developing any water hyacinth fabric,” said Idachaba-Obaro.

In the past few months for example, a team of 70 women were able to make ropes which earned them 1.4 million Naira (3,880 dollars). “It has become a big business in Nigeria where everybody wants to be involved,” she said.

Her exhibition was one of the 42 technologies and innovative solutions from around the world that formed the 2019 Sustainable Innovation Expo at the UNEA conference in Nairobi, which is being held Mar. 8-15.
To move such innovations forward through research and to later upscale them, Joyce Msuya, the U.N. Environment Acting Executive Director and Assistant Secretary-General of the U.N. urged countries to provide enabling environments for both innovators and researchers.

“Innovation will be the heartbeat of the transformation we want and this cannot happen by itself. Policies and incentives to spur innovation and sustainable consumption and production must be backed by efforts to build implementation capacity,” she told the more than 4,000 delegates from 170 countries during the official opening of the assembly in Nairobi.

According to Siim Kisler, the Minister of Environment in Estonia and the UNEA President, there is need to find innovative solutions for environmental challenges through different approaches to sustainable consumption and production, inspiring nations, private sector players and individuals.

The Expo is the U.N. Environment Assembly’s solution-based platform for engaging innovators using exhibitions that reveal the latest technologies, panel discussions, and networking opportunities.

Other innovative techniques showcased at the expo include ‘Timbeter’ a digital (mobile app) timber measurement solution that uses a smart phone for accurate log detection.

“With this app on your smart phone, you only need to point the phone camera to say a lorry full of timber, and it will accurately give you the total number of logs on the truck, and circumference measurement of each of the logs,” Anna-Greta Tsahkna the Co-founder of the Estonian-based Timbeter told IPS.

So far, the technology has been embraced in Thailand, Brazil, South Africa, Russia and Chile where companies are using it to share measurements with contractors and clients. They use it to count logs, the log diameter and density in less than 3 minutes. It is an important tool in eradicating illegal logging.

Apart from another exhibition by a Canadian company that uses shipping containers to create affordable and sustainable housing, Brazilian experts from a company called Votorantim were showcasing a technique where they extract DNA from different forest species to analyse their chemical makeup.

“This makes it easy for users to know which type of trees, plants, grass or anything within the biodiversity they should target based on what they want to extract for medicines, cosmetics, perfumes among others,” said Frineia Rezente, the Executive Manager of Votorantim, said.

According to a statement by U.N. Environment, innovative sustainable business represents a trillion-dollar opportunity that can bring value to people and the environment.

Tribeca Film Festival Announces 2019 Short Film Lineup

Posted on March 11, 2019 by emandowa

Written and directed by Carlos Baena, Spain’s ‘La Noria’ is one of six animated shorts selected to compete at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

NEW YORK — The 18th annual Tribeca Film Festival has announced its 2019 lineup of 63 diverse and engaging short films in competition, including 31 world premieres. This year’s shorts program includes a cross-section of international and U.S. filmmakers, curated from a record 5,131 submissions with female filmmakers directing 45% of the selections. The short films will be presented in 11 distinct competition programs, consisting of six narrative, four documentary, and one animation program. There will also be special screening programs for the annual Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival and the debut of shorts from The Queen Collective, a program aimed at accelerating gender and racial equality behind the camera. The 2019 shorts lineup is programmed by Sharon Badal and Ben Thompson. The 2019 Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 24 through May 5.

“We spent a great deal of time curating programs that reflect the diverse interests of our audiences,” said Sharon Badal, Vice President of Filmmaker Relations and Shorts Programming. “This year we emphasize identity, community, and humanity while also entertaining our audience with some laughter, fun, and adventure.”

The flagship New York Shorts Program this year is entitled Streetwise and contains all world premiere narrative films, and back by popular demand are comedy (Funhouse) and sci-fi (Down to Earth). Among the new programs are the music-focused On Tour and the female-focused No Shortcuts documentary programs, and curated especially for late-night is the self-explanatory program WTF.

This year’s shorts program continues Tribeca’s tradition of discovering talent and encouraging filmmaker alumni development. Alumni returning this year with short films include Alexandra Barreto (Lady Hater), Matthew Bonifacio (Master Maggie), 2019 Oscar nominee Marshall Curry (The Neighbors’ Window) David Darg (Lazarus), Lance Edmands (Whiteout,) Henry Hayes (Rogers and Tilden), Nadia Hallgren (After Maria), Jonathan Halperin (These American Truths), Scott Floyd Lochmus (Metronome) Smriti Mundhra (St. Louis Superman), Dana Nachman (Hook Up 2.0) and Victoria Rivera (Night Swim).

Tribeca’s Short Film program celebrates international storytelling with 44% of its selections representing 19 countries, including: Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Malawi, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The 2019 Oscar winner Bao, directed by Domee Shi world premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival and is the latest in the Festival’s long tradition of curating films that have been nominated or won an Oscar. Recipients of the Tribeca Film Festival awards for Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Short, and Best Animated Short will qualify for consideration in the Academy Awards’ Short Films category, provided the film complies with Academy rules. Tribeca Film Festival also gives out a Student Visionary Award to a student filmmaker.

The 2019 Tribeca Film Festival Shorts Program is as follows:

Animated Shorts Curated by Whoopi G

Showcasing imaginative storytelling and captivating craft. (This program is suggested for those 14 and older.)

La Noria, directed and written by Carlos Baena. (Spain) – New York Premiere. A young boy who loves to draw and build ferris wheels encounters strange creatures that turn his life upside down. With English subtitles.
PeiXes, directed and written by Juan C. Pena. (Spain) – New York Premiere. A bold fish wants to see that there is beyond the water, and it is determined to succeed… With Antón Cancelas. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Mind My Mind, directed and written by Floor Adams. (Netherlands) – International Premiere. When relying on social scripts to survive the social world, it’s not easy to go off-script. Especially if you’re obsessed with German dive bombers and just want to date a girl. With Simon Hodges, Cézanne Tegelberg, Adam Fields, Faye Bloomfield, Lesley Hughes, Elias Vervecken.
My Mother’s Eyes, directed and written by Jenny Wright. (UK) – New York Premiere. My Mother’s Eyes is a story about motherhood and loss in the abstracted world of childhood memory.
These American Truths, directed by Ed Bell, Clementine Briand, Pierce Freelon, Jon Halperin, Aaron Keane, Drew Takahashi, written by Pierce Freelon, Jon Halperin. (USA) – World Premiere. How skin became color, color became race, and race became power. Or… the relationship of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson in an animated musical.
The Downfall of Santa Claus (Julenissens fall), directed and written by Robert Depuis. (Norway) – North American Premiere. Santa Claus whole existence is dependent on a little boy’s faith. With Jan Sælid, Jonathan Gebuhr, Fridtjov Såheim, Tone Merete Aas Skålevik. In Norwegian with English subtitles.

Down To Earth

Sci-Fi shorts explore the “gravity” of the situations.

Storm, directed and written by Will Kindrick. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. An unexpected user is accidentally launched through a series of turbulent splash portals when his government enforced dating app malfunctions in his bathtub. With John Bubniak, Corey Potter, Gwen Van Dam, RJ Howard, Corey L Page.
Bunker Burger, directed and written by Adam Yorke. (Canada) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. The members of an underground, post-apocalyptic bunker invite a psychologist from the radioactive and chaotic surface to audition for a place to live among them. With Enrico Colantoni, Sara Mitich, Tony Babcock, Jennifer Vallance, Sarah Gnocato, Bethanie Ho.
Flyby, directed and written by Jesse Mittelstadt. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. When a passing asteroid begins to affect how people perceive time, one man struggles to keep up with a life that is quickly disappearing into the future. With Tommee May, Riley Egan, Adam Mayfield, Akul Dang, Bardot Corso, Charles Chu, Chelsea Harris, Chris Reagan, Justin Rupple, Phil Abrams, Ryan Shrime, Torrey Devitto, Valeria Maldonado, Caity Ware.
Unregistered, directed by Sophia Banks, written by Erin Dignam. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. Unregistered is a narrative short film following a new couple navigating analog and digital connections in the not-too-distant future of a dystopian Los Angeles. With Dylan Penn, Trevor Jackson, David Lee Smith.
Zero, directed and written by The Brother’s Lynch. (USA, UK) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. After a mysterious electromagnetic pulse renders the world’s technology useless, a young girl finds herself isolated and alone with only her father’s strict set of rules to keep her alive. With Bella Ramsey, Nigel O’Neill, Danny Shooter, James Oliver Wheatley.
The Shipment, directed and written by Bobby Bala. (Canada) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. Unable to afford repairs to his old broken ship, a struggling interplanetary transporter and his daughter are stranded on a wretched spaceport as his morality is put to the test. With Aleks Paunovic, Ishana Bala, Robert Maillet, Omari Newton.

Express Yourself

Shorts that show their true colors.

This Perfect Day, directed and written by Lydia Rui. (Australia) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. Across the street, a music store is closing. With only a few minutes to make their move, Julia realizes it’s time for them to face their fears. With Michelle Keating, Lee Mason, Hannah Koch.
Ponyboi, directed and written by River Gallo. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. Ponyboi, an intersex sex-worker, looks for love and to escape his seedy life in New Jersey. Through an encounter with the man of his dreams, Ponyboi discovers his worth. With River Gallo, Keith Allan, Aaron Schwartz, Sophie Labelle, Logan Arevelo.
War Paint, directed by J.C. Doler, Taylor Bracewell, written by J.C. Doler. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. War Paint is a reverse first-person narrative telling the true story of Joe, a veteran of the Vietnam war. The film follows him as he enlists, prepares, and heads off to war. With J.C. Doler, Alex Dafnis, Patrick Kirton, Chris Alan Evans, Paul Petersen, Clayton Henderson.
Street Flame, directed and written by Katherine Propper. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. Following the death of their friend, a crew of skaters and motley street teens imagine their own rituals to commemorate her on their own terms. With Sauve Sidle, Isaiah Shepard, Jessica Price, Kaitlyn Mitchell, Curtis Rhodes.
Driving Lessons, directed and written by Marziyeh Riahi. (Iran) – North American Premiere, Short Narrative. According Iranian law, Bahareh must have her traditional, chauvinistic husband accompany her on driving lessons so she and her instructor will not be alone. With Linda Kiani, Alireza Sanifar, Salar Khamseh, Sanaz Mesbah. In Persian with English subtitles.
Maja, directed by Marijana Jankovic, written by Marijana Jankovic, Adam August. (Denmark) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. Maja, a six-year-old Serbian girl, has a difficult time interacting with the other kids — and she ends up being misunderstood and lonesome. With Selena Marsenic, Jesper Christensen, Dejan Cukic, Marijana Jankovic. In Danish, Serbian with English subtitles.

Forces of Nature

Character docs that demand attention.

99 Problems, directed by Ross Killeen. (Ireland) – International Premiere, Short Documentary. The inside scoop on the murky world of the ice cream business.
Framing Agnes, directed by Chase Joynt, Kristen Schilt. (USA) – North American Premiere, Short Documentary. In 2017, trans artists gained access to a 1950s archive of never-before-seen histories of transgender people. Through reenactment and documentary, they revive the past to redefine the future. With Angelica Ross, Chase Joynt, Max Wolf Valerio, Silas Howard, Zackary Drucker.
Stanley Stellar: Here for this Reason, directed and written by Eric Leven. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. 40 years of New York City gay history told through photographs and the man behind the camera there to capture it all.
War Mothers: Unbreakable, directed by Stefan Bugryn. (Ukraine, Australia) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. What does an 18-year-old do when war comes to her country? In Ukrainian with English subtitles.
St. Louis Superman, directed by Smriti Mundhra, Sami Khan. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Documentary. Bruce Franks Jr., a Ferguson activist and battle rapper who was elected to the overwhelmingly white and Republican Missouri House of Representatives, must overcome both personal trauma and political obstacles to pass a critical bill for his community.

Funhouse

It’s all fun and games in these comedic shorts.

Hook Up 2.0, directed and written by Dana Nachman. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. A sorority girl figures out a way to eliminate all risk from the late-night ritual that is the college hook up. Now all she needs is to find a guy to test out her idea on… and with. With Veronica Dunne, Billy Meade.
Westfalia, directed and written by Haley Finnegan, written by Haley Finnegan. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. A couple embarks on an epic road trip in an attempt to gain more followers after their Instagram rival’s fame doubles overnight. With Haley Finnegan, Brian Flynn, Nicholas DePriest, Belle Adams, Laura Lawson Visconti, Nick Visconti.
Lady Hater, directed and written by Alexandra Barreto. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. A self-proclaimed “guy’s girl” finds herself stuck in an all-female, goddess seminar. With Allyn Rachel, Natalie Zea.
I Think She Likes You, directed by Bridey Elliott, written by Teresa Lee (Screenplay), Christine Medrano. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. When Justine and Julia pick Jake up at a bar, it’s not quite the threesome he was expecting. With Christine Medrano, Teresa Lee, Josh Fadem.
Peggy, directed and written by Justin O’Neal Miller. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. Everything always seems to work out perfectly for Peggy, but her social graces are put to the test when she throws a birthday party for her eight-year-old son. With Jason MacDonald, Sarah Blackman, Josh Warren, Kurt Yue.
Hard-ish Bodies, directed and written by Mike Carreon. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. A plus-size male stripper knocks on the wrong door and is thrust into the criminal underworld. His only chance to save the club and himself is to do what he does best … DANCE! With Mike Carreon, James C Leary, Regina Soto, Heidi Lornz, Marcone Cangussu, Adam Mengesha, Isaac Garza, Meghan Malone.
40 Minutes Over Maui, directed by Michael Feld, Josh Covitt, written by Steve Feld, Michael Feld, Josh Covitt. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. For 40 minutes on January 13, 2018, the fate of the world hung in the balance. For Larry and Penny… their Hawaiian vacation became a lot more meaningful. With Julie Brister, Johnny Ray Meeks.

Life Preserver

Docs that make a difference.

Keepers of the Wild, directed and written by Adam McClelland. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Documentary. Keepers of the Wild follows baby orphan elephants and their human keepers in the constant struggle to keep these majestic, complex and loving animals alive and wild in Kenya’s largest National Park.
A Tale of Two Kitchens, directed by Trisha Ziff, written by Trisha Ziff, Sheerly Avni. (USA, Mexico) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Two countries, two restaurants, one vision. A Tale of Two Kitchens explores how a restaurant is a place of dignity and community across Mexico City and San Francisco. In English, Spanish with English subtitles. A Netflix release.
All On a Mardi Gras Day, directed and written by Michal Pietrzyk. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Documentary. In a gentrifying New Orleans, Demond is part of a secret culture called Mardi Gras Indians, African-American men who spend all year sewing feathered suits to decide who’s “the prettiest.”
Learning To Skateboard In a Warzone (If You’re A Girl), directed by Carol Dysinger. (UK) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Learning To Skateboard In A Warzone (If You’re A Girl) is the story of young Afghan girls learning to read, write — and skateboard — in Kabul. In Dari with English subtitles.

No Shortcuts

Navigating life is tough in these female-focused docs.

Reality Baby, directed by Nodlag Houlihan. (Ireland) – International Premiere, Short Documentary. A group of friends is given lifelike baby dolls to care for over 24 hours. How will they rise to the challenges of teenage motherhood?
Little Miss Sumo, directed and written by Matt Kay. (Japan, Taiwan R.O.C., UK, USA) – North American Premiere, Short Documentary. Female sumo wrestling champion Hiyori confronts obstacles both inside and outside the ring in an attempt to change Japan’s national sport forever. In English, Japanese with English subtitles. Also playing in Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival: Sports Shorts
A Love Song for Latasha, directed by Sophia Nahli Allison. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. A dreamlike conversation with the past and the present, this film reimagines a more nuanced narrative of Latasha Harlins by excavating intimate memories shared by her cousin and best friend. With Tybee O’Bard, Shinese Harlins, Zoe Flint, Nnenna Brown, Juanita Jennings, Marley Cortez, Londyn Sharp, Raigan Alex, Irie Hudson.
After Maria, directed by Nadia Hallgren. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Strong Puerto Rican women forced to flee the island after Hurricane Maria have bonded like family in a FEMA hotel in the Bronx. They seek stability in their new life as forces try to pull them apart. In Spanish with English subtitles. A Netflix release.

On Tour

Music docs that speak to heart and soul.

Xmas Cake – This American Shelf-Life, directed by May Yam, written by Petra Hanson. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. A coming-of-middle-age story about a female singers’ journey from hot to not, and what ensues across cultures — from New York to Tokyo. With Petra Hanson.
Lost Weekend, directed by Bradford Thomason, Brett Whitcomb. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. In 1984, two friends from small town Pennsylvania win an MTV contest and the chance to party with Van Halen for 48 Hours. With Kurt Jefferis, Tom Winnick.
A Song Can’t Burn, directed and written by Roscoe Neil. (UK) – New York Premiere, Short Documentary. A Song Can’t Burn follows a Scottish musician working with refugee children who have crossed the border from Syria to Lebanon.
Lazarus, directed by David Darg. (USA, Malawi, UK) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Lazarus is a short documentary following Lazarus Chigwandali, a street musician with Albinism from Malawi as he teams up with a London-based music producer to record his debut album. With Clem Kwizombe, Esau Mwamwaya, Johan Hugo, Ikponwosa Ero. In Chechewa, English with English subtitles.
That’s My Jazz, directed by Ben Proudfoot. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Milt Abel Jr., a world-renowned pastry chef, reflects on his relationship with his deceased father and famed Kansas City jazz musician, Milton Abel Sr. With Albert Trepanier Jr., Bobby “Hurricane” Spencer, Cathy Luke, Henry Franklin, Ibrahima Sow, Kaleb Ross, Lasse Funch Sørenson, Lasse Mørck, Marie Buch Hoyer, Michael Be Holden, Norman Weatherly, Retha Spencer, Richard Spicer, Søren Høst.

Roads Less Traveled

Destinations unknown.

East of the River, directed and written by Hannah Peterson. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. When Teonna is unexpectedly suspended from school, she encounters a girl from her past who takes her on an adventure through the city. With Ayiana T. Davis, Steloni Mason, Malachi Mack.
Pearl (Zhen Zhu), directed and written by Yuchao Feng. (China) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. In a desolate Chinese fishing village, a single mother gives her 6-year-old daughter one final lesson. With Lu Liu, Yating Cao, Menghua Zhong, Jinnai Chen. In Chinese with English subtitles.
Black Hat, directed by Sarah Smith, written by Phillip Guttmann. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. A pious Hasidic man living a secret double life misplaces his hat one night, which will cause his two separate lives to collide in a way he never imagined. With Adam Silver, Sebastian Velmont, Shelly Kurtz, Alan Lennick, Carolyn Michelle Smith, Nicholas Hylander.
Snare, directed by Madeleine Gottlieb, written by Madeleine Gottlieb, James Fraser. (Australia) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. At an aging Chinese restaurant in 1997, a dad asks his punk musician son to help him follow his dreams. With Steve Rodgers, James Fraser.
Carlito Leaves Forever, directed and written by Quentin Lazzarotto. (France, Peru) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. A short poetic film following Carlito, a young man living in an indigenous village at the heart of the Amazonian jungle, who decided to leave and change his life forever. With Carlito Tirira Meshi, Alfonsina Sehua Tioshe.
Jebel Banat, directed and written by Sharine Atif. (Egypt) – North American Premiere, Short Narrative. Two Bedouin sisters hide on a mountain, escaping forced marriages and embarking on a journey of freedom. With Sara Soumaya Abed, Jala Hesham, Soliman El Jebaly. In Arabic with English subtitles.
Where I End And You Begin, directed and written by Will Hoffman, Julius Metoyer. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. Snapshots of different lives are woven together to illuminate something deeply human about the country: despite obvious differences, emotions provide a common ground.

Streetwise

New York shorts that can handle themselves.

The Dishwasher, directed and written by Nick Hartanto, Sam Roden. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. A chef at a fine dining restaurant in New York City asks a Mexican dishwasher to find good tortillas. With Kevin Balmore, Elisha Yaffe, Holly Lynn Ellis, Teddy Cañez, Arisleyda Lombert, Richie Moriarty. In English, Spanish with English subtitles.
Night Swim, directed by Victoria Rivera, written by Victoria Rivera and Neda Jebelli. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. Three teenage girls break into a shut down pool. When uninvited guests show up, their friendship is tested and one of them is left behind. With Adriana Santos, Chloe Roe, Adea Lennox.
Rogers and Tilden, directed by Henry Hayes, written by Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Henry Hayes. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. Fresh out of prison in a Brooklyn he barely recognizes, Marcus is looking to seize his second chance. But first, he needs that driver’s license. With Gbenga Akinnagbe, Curtiss Cook Jr, Lorrie Odom.
Master Maggie, directed by Matthew Bonifacio, written by Julianna Gelinas Bonifacio, Matthew Bonifacio. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. A celebrity acting coach is interrupted by an unknown actor begging for her help for a TV audition. What follows is an unexpected journey for the both of them. With Lorraine Bracco, Neil Jain, Kenan Thompson, Brian Dennehy, Chris Henry Coffey.
Metronome (In Time), directed and written by Scott Floyd Lochmus. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. In this wordless fable, an ailing elderly maestro and a young piano prodigy venture out of their musical isolation in hopes of selling their beloved piano. With David Patrick Kelly, Gabriel Gurevich, Patrick Cannell, Adaku Ononogbo, Mehdi Barakchian, Valerie Steinberg.
The Neighbors’ Window, directed and written by Marshall Curry. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. The Neighbors’ Window tells the true story of a middle-aged woman with small children whose life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street. With Maria Dizzia, Greg Keller, Juliana Canfield, Bret Lada.

WTF

Watch These Films curated especially for late-night.

Twist, directed and written by Aly Migliori. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. No choice but to walk home alone, Hannah sees an opportunity for a ride, but others see an opportunity in her. With Helena Howard, Megan Seely, Henry Dwyer, Mike Donovan, Justin Hofstad, Matthew Russell.
Whiteout, directed by Lance Edmands, written by Lance Edmands, Sarah Tihany. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. When a young couple encounters a strange old man wandering in a snowstorm, they must decide if he needs help, or if he has more sinister intentions. With Sarah Tihany, David Call, Patrick M Walsh Jr..
His Hands, directed and written by Arron Blake, Darius Shu. (UK) – North American Premiere, Short Narrative. Two men of different ages meet for the strangest encounter of their lives. With Arron Blake, Philip Brisebois.
Momster, directed and written by Drew Denny. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. When notorious bank robber, the Momster, catches her daughter Angel mid-gunfight, Angel thinks she’s being rescued… until she realizes she has to do the saving. With Brianna Hildebrand, Amanda Plummer, John Ennis, Josh Fadem, Ryan Simpkins.
Hunting Season, directed by Shannon Kohli, written by Hannah Levien. (Canada) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. Callie, a small town gas station attendant, has an unexpected encounter which will change the course of her life forever. With Hannah Levien, Luke Camilleri.
11:50, directed and written by Yiguo Chen. (China) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. In the pouring rain, a junkie takes the hotel key of a man that his car has accidentally killed. As he walks into the hotel and finds that room, he has to face a mysterious journey that will never have an end. In Chinese with English subtitles.
Snaggletooth, directed and written by Colin Bishopp. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. An unusual girl needs to get her teeth fixed at midnight. With Jolie Ledford, Sierra Marcks, Susan Louise O’Connor, Thomas Cokenias.

Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival: Sports Shorts

A spectrum of stories, styles, and sports, this collection of athletically-minded short films will take audiences on the exciting personal journeys of these athletes.

The Boxers of Brule, directed and written by Jessie Adler. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Shaionna, a young Lakota woman, creates a girls’ boxing team to combat the youth suicide epidemic threatening the Lower Brule Sioux Reservation. With the odds stacked against her, she must confront her own demons while fighting to bring hope and healing to her community. With Shaionna Grassrope-Ziegler, Davita Thompson, Shilea Grassrope, Pam Ziegler, Jada Whitelight, Rianna Rodriguez. In English with English subtitles.
Mack Wrestles (Mack Wrestles), directed by Taylor Hess, Erin Sanger. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Documentary. Mack Beggs loved wrestling — it gave him a sense of purpose and a sense of self. Mack Wrestles, takes the audience behind the scenes as this gifted athlete from Euless, Texas, struggles against the outside forces that stigmatize transgender athletes.
Who Says I Can’t (Who Says I Can’t), directed by Kristen Lappas. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Rob Mendez was born without arms or legs, but after more than a decade of acting as an assistant football coach, he finally got the opportunity he’d always wanted: the head coaching position at a major high school. Who Says I Can’t chronicles Mendez’ first season at the helm of his own team.

Also playing in Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival: Sports Shorts — Little Miss Sumo

The Queen Collective shorts

The debut of two Queen Collective documentaries, supported by Proctor & Gamble, aimed at accelerating gender and racial equality behind the camera. Created by diverse young women – these short films inspire positive social change and embody Procter and Gamble’s commitment to supporting gender and racial equity, on-screen and behind the scenes.

Ballet After Dark, directed by B.Monét. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Ballet After Dark tells the story a young woman who found the strength to survive after an attack. She created an organization that is helping sexual abuse and domestic violence survivors find healing after trauma through dance therapy.
If There Is Light, directed by Haley Elizabeth Anderson. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Fourteen-year-old Janiyah Blackmon wrestles with her new life in New York City as her mom tries to move her family out of the shelter system and into a stable home. With Janiyah Blackmon, McKayla Blackmon, Jakena Blackmon.

Passes and Tickets for the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival

Advance selection ticket packages are now on sale. All packages can be purchased online at tribecafilm.com/festival/tickets, or by telephone at (646) 502-5296 or toll-free at (866) 941-FEST (3378).

Also available for purchase now is The Hudson Pass, an all-access pass to screenings and talks taking place at BMCC, Regal Battery Park Stadium, Village East Cinema, and SVA theaters as well as full access to all events at the Festival Hub at Spring Studios, which includes VR and Immersive projects, Movies Plus screenings and access to festival lounges.

Single tickets cost $24.00 for evening and weekend screenings, $12.00 for weekday matinee screenings, $30.00 for Tribeca TV and Movies Plus $40.00 for Tribeca Talks panels and $40.00 for Tribeca Immersive. Single ticket sales begin Tuesday, March 26 and can be purchased online through the Tribeca Film Festival film guide or through the call center.

Tickets for events at The Beacon Theatre are available for purchase online starting March 19.

Packages and passes are now available for purchase on the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival App, on iTunes and Google Play.

Source: Tribeca Film Festival

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