NC Latin American Film Festival, ‘Low Hanging Fruit’

Director Kaley Clements’ Low Hanging Fruit (2019, 50 min.) follows avocados as a commodity in Michoacán, the only state in México allowed to export the product into the U.S. Through this seemingly monopolistic practice, Low Hanging Fruit uncovers the social conflicts and environmental problems spurring the ongoing genocide of the indigenous Purepecha people, the devastation of forests and other public lands, and connects it to migration into the U.S. The film exposes the multifaceted layers created by the structure of a globalizing economy that allows for 80 percent of the world’s supply of avocados to come from a region notorious for being controlled by the drug cartels now known as the green cartels.

This film will be preceded by the short Konagxeka: The story of the Maxakali’s Flood (2016, 13 min.), directed by Isael Maxakali and Charles Bicalho and presented in Maxakali with English subtitles. Charles Bicalho will be present to discuss the film. Konãgxeka in the Maxakali indigenous language means “big water.” It’s the Maxakali version of the great flood. As a punishment because of selfishness and greed of men, the Yãmîy spirits send the “big water.” One of the directors is representative of the Maxakali indigenous people in the state of Minas Gerais, southeast Brazil. The illustrations for the film were made by indigenous Maxakali during workshops held at Aldeia Verde.

For more information about the North Carolina Latin American Film Festival, visit the UNC-Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies website.