Since 2011, we have been collaborating closely with the leadership of a Mapuche Lafkenche territory in Wallmapu (Chile) to implement a major capacity building and culture and language preservation project. Once a year, the Mapuche School of Filmmaking and Communication offers a month-long filmmaking workshop to young adults and school-age children. Youth learn to use professional video cameras and editing software, interview Elders and cultural knowledge holders, practice their Indigenous language and work together to collectively create a short film. Films are screened at community events and used as tools to recover ancestral knowledge and territorial governance. The short films have also travelled to dozens of film festivals around the world.

Planning, training, facilitation and project management for this project is a joint undertaking between a2delante, a Mapuche team of coordinators and community representatives, and a Quebec-based organization specialized in providing advanced filmmaking training for First Nations youth (wapikoni.ca). Over the years, we have built a transparent and respectful intercultural collaboration that has enabled us to make decisions in a way that is both efficient and grounded in Mapuche protocol.

Capacity building in activity coordination, facilitation, project management, reporting and evaluation are core elements of this project. Six Mapuche project team members have been trained and employed by the project, including two former youth participants. Our role as trainers and project managers has been progressively decreasing as the local team builds its skill set.