I attended my first film premiere during the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples.
Mayan Renaissance features Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum and shares 4000 years of Mayan wisdom and hisory. This powerful and inspiring film tells the story of the Mayan people: the rise and glory of the Mayan civilization; the arrival of the Spanish and 500 years of oppression and resistance; the efforts of the Mayans to regain their voice and shape their own future; the creation of an indigenous political party; Rigoberta Menchu’s campaigns for President; the people’s vision for the future; and their call for a renaissance of Mayan wisdom and culture.
The film premiered during the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to highlight this years’s special theme of the forum: “The Doctrine of Discovery: Its Enduring Impact on Indigenous Peoples.”
Dawn Engle, director of Mayan Renaissance and executive director of the PeaceJam Foundation, and Ivan Suvanjieff, executive produced of Mayan Renaissance and president of the PeaceJam Foundation introduced the film and engaged in a conversation with audience members.
The Committee of Religious NGOs at the Untied Nations, Tribal Link, The Wittenberg Center for Alternative Resources, The United Religions Initiative and the PeaceJam Foundation sponsored the screening.
Watch for opportunities to view Mayan Renaissance.
Presbyterians have been partners in ministry with our brothers and sisters in Guatemala for more than 100 years.