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MEET THE FILMMAKERS

Juan Carlos Galeano is an Amazonian poet, documentary filmmaker, and essayist whose fieldwork on symbolic narratives of riverine and forest people in the Amazon basin resulted in his production of a comprehensive collection of storytelling (Folktales of the Amazon, ABC-CLIO, 2008). As a filmmaker he made a plea for environmental justice, threatened landscapes and cultures of Amazonia in his documentary, The Trees Have a Mother (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 2008). He has published several books of poetry and has translated the works of North American poets into Spanish. His poetry inspired by Amazonian cosmologies and the modern world are anthologized and published in international journals such Casa de las Américas (Cuba), The Atlantic Monthly and Ploughshares (U.S.).  He teaches Latin American poetry and Amazonian Cultures at Florida State University and is currently the director of the FSU Service/Learning Program: Journey into Amazonia in Perú. ​

​​Leoncio “Leo” Ramírez  Vásquez is a Peruvian photographer, producer and a  knowledgeable and experienced audiovisual artist of the Peruvian Amazon. Mentored by Mario Acha, an internationally known documentary filmmaker, “Leo” grew up in Iquitos in the Peruvian Amazon and was a general producer of the documentary “Amazónico Soy” (“I am Amazonian”). He is currently the director of Xinguito Producción Audiovisual  and for many years he coordinated the Audio Visual Production unit of La Restinga and participated in itinerant audiovisual workshops for Kinomada (Iquitos,2009; Quebec,2010; Habana, 201; Mexico 2013). His documenting of various sustainable development projects for international and Peruvian NGOs has contributed to the cultural continuity of indigenous peoples and riverine inhabitants of the Amazon basin. 

​​Amy Sanderson is an American producer, director and editor with almost two decades of experience in the motion picture industry and documentary film production. Her film credits include the position of script supervisor on numerous feature films working alongside notable directors such as Werner Herzog, Lee Daniels and Stephen Frears. Additionally, she has collaborated on several full-length, award-winning documentaries seeing projects through conception, editorial and release. She has worked in New Orleans, New York, Los Angeles, Asia, India and Latin America.  Areas of focus and passion include her advocacy for social issues and environmental justice through documentary.

 

 

 

 

Carlos Odría is Peruvian guitarist and musicologist. From 2009 to 2014 he composed traditional and contemporary Latin American music as a director for Aconcagua, a Latin American Music Ensemble at the Florida State University. He was a featured artist at the Florida Folk Festival and has offered Latin American music demonstrations as well as performed in many festivals, conferences, universities, and concert halls. His publications include a forthcoming chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Musical Repatriation and an article in Ethnomusicology.  Currently he is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Boston. 

Vera Coleman is an American environmental humanist and translator whose work explores indigenous knowledge systems, decolonial thought, material feminisms, and multispecies politics in contemporary Latin American literature, art and film. She has received awards from the Asociación de Estudios de Género y Sexualidades, Feministas Unidas, and the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, and her publications have appeared in journals such as Gestos, Confluencia, Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, and Letras femeninas. A Key Researcher in the Humanities for the Environment global network, she is also Production Manager of the digital humanities project Latam-Films. She is a Continuing Lecturer in Spanish at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.

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Carlos Miranda was born in Managua, Nicaragua, he is an independent filmmaker who specializes in cinematography yet also deals into scriptwriting, and film sound re-recording arts. For many years he held an apprenticeship and guidance under his mentor Academy Award sound re-recording artist, Richard Portman. Miranda creates visually intense art that gravitates toward symbolism and deep meaning iconography. His recent works combine 3D rendered elements, photography and digital painting. Currently he holds a professorship position at Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee, Florida.

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El Río was made possible with the contributions of Florida State University graduate and undergraduate students independently, during respective internships or while immersed in the FSU Journey into Amazonia Summer Program.

Their credits are as follows: Callaghan Keane (assistant editor), Bernardo Zurita (assistant editor), Madison Jozsa (assistant editor), Lindsey Whitfield (poster design, and graphics), Andrew Kocur (trailer),

Chanelle Dupuis (marketing and outreach) and production assistants Chanelle Dupuis,

Jacquelyn Elliot, Eden Gordon, Jonce Palmer, Quinta Richardson & Ryan Whalen.

French subtitles and translation completed by Chanelle Dupuis and Alexis Finet. 

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