The Forgotten District is a documentary film directed by Oliver Dickinson.
Between the Caribbean Sea and the Maya Mountains lies Toledo, known as The Forgotten District of Belize, Central America. For the last 20 years, the Maya have been promoting their own ecotourism programme in order to protect their rainforest and traditions. Despite constant opposition from the government and the tourist industry, Margarita, Reyes, Chet and their friends remain strong and optimistic. The film is a tribute to their tireless efforts.
The film has been selected by numerous festivals throughout the world (i.e. Festival International du Film d’Environnement de Paris, Rodos Ecofilms Festival, Festival Cine de Bogotá, Guangzhou International Documentary Festival) and has won several awards (i.e. Jury Award and a Special Award for promoting ecotourism at the Riga International Tourfilm Festival 2010, Silver at the Zagreb Tourfilm Festival 2012, Blue Danube Award for Best Tourism Reportage at Silafest 2009).
Toledo District is the southernmost and least populated district in Belize. Punta Gorda is the District capital. According to the Human Development Index (HDI), it is the second most developed region in the country. The district has a diverse topography which features rainforests, extensive cave networks, coastal lowland plains, and offshore cays. Toledo is home to a wide range of cultures such as Mopan, Kekchi Maya, Creole, Garifuna, East Indians, Mennonites, Mestizos, and descendants of US Confederate settlers.
Monkey River Town is a village in the north of the Toledo District of Belize. It is on the Caribbean Sea on the southern shore of the mouth of Belize's Monkey River. In 2011 the estimated population was 200 people.
Placencia is a small village located in the Stann Creek District of Belize.
Ambergris Caye, is the largest island of Belize, located northeast of the country's mainland, in the Caribbean Sea. It is about 40 kilometres (25 mi) long from north to south, and about 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) wide. Many parts of the island have been modified by human development since the arrival of coconut plantations in the 17th century, but it remains largely white coral sand with mangrove forest at its center. Its eastern coast runs parallel to the northernmost stretch of the Belize Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Maya are an ethnolinguistic group of indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived within that historical region. Today they inhabit southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and westernmost El Salvador and Honduras.
Visions du Réel is an internationally renowned documentary film festival held in April each year in Nyon, Switzerland. Established in 1969 as the Nyon International Documentary Film Festival, the event adopted its current name in 1995 and is the largest Swiss documentary festival.
Our Daily Bread is a 2005 documentary film directed, co-produced, and with cinematography by Nikolaus Geyrhalter. The script was co-written by Wolfgang Widerhofer and Nikolaus Geyrhalter.
Tourism in Belize has grown considerably recently, and it is now the second largest industry in the nation. Belizean Prime Minister Dean Barrow has stated his intention to use tourism to combat poverty throughout the country. The growth in tourism has positively affected the agricultural, commercial, and finance industries, as well as the construction industry. The results for Belize's tourism-driven economy have been significant, with the nation welcoming almost one million tourists in a calendar year for the first time in its history in 2012.
Belizeans are people associated with the country of Belize through citizenship or descent. Belize is a multiethnic country with residents of Ethnic groups of Amerindian, African, European, Asian and Middle-eastern descent or mixed race with any combination of those groups.
Out of Bounds is a 2005 French documentary film directed by Alexandre Leborgne and Pierre Barougier.
Heritage commodification is the process by which cultural themes and expressions come to be evaluated primarily in terms of their exchange value, specifically within the context of cultural tourism. These cultural expressions and aspects of heritage become "cultural goods," transformed into commodities to be bought, sold and profited from in the heritage tourism industry. In the context of modern globalization, complex and often contradictory layers of meaning are produced in local societies, and the marketing of one's cultural expressions can degrade a particular culture while simultaneously assisting in its integration into the global economy. The repatriation of profits, or "leakage", that occurs with the influx of tourist capital into a heritage tourist site is a crucial part of any sustainable development that can be considered beneficial to local communities. Modern heritage tourism reproduces an economic dynamic that is dependent upon capital from tourists and corporations in creating sustained viability. Tourism is often directly tied to economic development, so many populations see globalization as providing increased access to vital medical services and important commodities.
Title: Panta Rei (Everything Flows), Film by Nisvet Hrustic
Production: June, 2005
Duration: 20 minutes
Country of production: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Genre: Documentary/Environmental/Ecology/Nature film
Web site: http://www.nisvethrustic.com
IMDb
Sand Wars is a documentary by director Denis Delestrac and produced by Rappi Productions, La Compagnie des Taxi-Brousse, InfomAction, Arte France, with the support of The Santa Aguila Foundation.
The Green Film Network is an international association of environmental film festivals and was founded to support the work of international documentary filmmakers and promote films that raise awareness of environmental topics. The network currently comprises 32 festivals in 23 countries.
In Search of Marco Polo is a Croatian documentary TV miniseries written and directed by Miro Branković.
Istanbul Unveiled is a 61-minute travel documentary film produced in English about Istanbul and Turkish culture in 2013.
Mladen Velimirovic is a film director, screenwriter, producer and photographer.
Cristina Coc is a leader of the Maya community in southern Belize. She has served as co-spokesperson for the Maya Leadership Alliance and is the founder and executive director of the advocacy organization, the Julian Cho Society. In 2015, she and the MLA were awarded the Equator Prize for their efforts in protecting indigenous rights.
Eskimal is a 2011 Mexican short primarily stop motion animated film created by Homero Ramírez Tena. The film is about climate change, specifically melting ice at the poles.
Patrick Baucelin is an independent audiovisual director and producer from Martinique.