PRODUCER'S STATEMENT
Just a few years ago, it never crossed my mind that I would be a producer of a documentary film or a web video series in the context of my work as an activist around issues of extractivism, sovereignty on land and natural resources and environmental justice. I remember then when a friend was surprised by my reluctance to embrace the idea that I should be producing films/videos to further my political activism. Now, you can see that I have changed my mind and realised that videos and pictures can tell a story better than a thousand written words. This change came about when I met Nadir Bouhmouch, a Fanonian and committed filmmaker, whose brilliant work can be inscribed in the tradition of militant cinema that is centred on peoples’ struggles and issues of justice at the grassroots level.
Based on my experience working on the Maghreb/North Africa region, it has become a conviction of mine that progressive and radical work at a regional level is crucial and indispensable. There are strong historical ties between the people in this region where a uniting vision existed in the past and was promoted by progressive and important anti-colonial figures. Moreover, these countries are all facing an acute assault to open up to multinationals and imperialist capital, resulting in forms of resistance that tend to be similar. |