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The Garifuna Journey
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A first voice testimony celebrating the resiliency of the Garifuna people and their traditions. Shot entirely in Belize, the filmmakers worked closely with Garifuna tradition bearers, anthropologists and cultural activists during the research, scripting, production and editing phases of this project. The documentary resulting from this "outsider and insider" collaboration is the first of its kind, one that captures the triumph of spirit of the Garifuna people.
Descendants of African and Carib-Indian ancestors, the Garifuna fought to maintain their homeland and resisted slavery. For this love of freedom, they were exiled by the British in 1797. Despite exile and subsequent Diaspora, their traditional culture survives today. It is a little known story that deserves its place in the annals of the African Diaspora. In authentic Garifuna voices, this documentary presents the history, the language, food, music, dance and spirituality of the Garifuna culture. It is a celebratory documentary, with engaging scenes of fishing, cooking, dancing, cassava preparation, thatching a temple, spiritual ritual, ritual music and dance all demonstrating the Garifuna link to the Carib-African past.
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“An informative and artistic ethnographic portrait, beautiful to watch.” Michael Lieber Ph.D., Anthropologist University of Illinois
“ Students will benefit by comparing the mechanisms and strategies utilized by this group in dealing with culture change and cultural survival to other indigenous populations.” Professor Costas Spiral National Louis University
“... a sensitive, respectful documentation approach, this documentary will appeal to academics and lay persons alike, to adults and children as well.” Dr. Johan Buis, Coordinator of Education Center for Black Music Research, Chicago
“...a vital step in archiving the rich culture and fascinating trajectory of the Garifuna of Belize. The video is a prime model for the use of the moving image in preserving living culture.” Huntington International Independent Film Festival Winner of the Artistic Achievement Award in Ethnographic Video.
“The Garifuna Journey Project has helped us to produce a wonderful, authentic film about our people which validates us and will prove useful back home,....we are very, very satisfied and recognize the powerful role it can play in our educational programs.” Sebastian and Isabel Cayetano, Board of Directors National Garifuna Council.
”In The Garifuna Journey the input of cultural activists and scholars has yielded a sensitive, balanced portrait of Garifuna ritual life and identity. Filmmakers Leland and Berger have succeeded in rendering a complex syncretic culture in ways that both anthropologists and the Garinagu themselves will find comprehensible and satisfying. Their film would be a most appropriate complement to university courses on the Caribbean, the African Diaspora, and Latin American ethnography.” Mark Moberg, Ph.D. American Anthropologist
“A deftly constructed and moving portrayal of a people who have been dramatically successful in retaining their sense of identity while synthesizing into Garifuna culture the best of the worlds through which they have passed.” Katherine Staiano Ross, Ph.D. Anthropologist
Andrea Leland For the past 20+ years, Andrea Leland has produced / directed award winning documentaries focusing on Caribbean and Latin American cultures. In Haiti, Belize, Chiapas, and several Caribbean islands, she works collaboratively with community members providing a forum to voice their untold stories, personal challenges and compelling triumphs. Social, artistic or political actions are placed within context of their culture, imploring the viewer to confront old myths and discover a new perspective. These documentaries are successful tools for cultural preservation. Titles include: Jamesie King of Scratch (US Virgin Islands), The Garifuna Journey (Belize), The Long Road Home (Chiapas, Mexico) and Voodoo and the Church in Haiti. These films have won numerous awards and have screened at museums, conferences and festivals throughout Europe, Latin America and the United States and have won numerous awards. Selected invitational screenings include: American Museum of Natural History, New York; 18th Bilan du Film Ethnographique, Paris, France; Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles; and the Smithsonian National Museum of American Indian, New York. She has written articles that have been published in the Caribbean Review, ACM Literary Magazine and Angles magazines. Through Ms. Leland’s collaborative approach to documentary filmmaking, she has gained the respect and confidence of members of the Haitian, Mayan, and Garifuna communities. In addition, Leland’s documentaries have proved to be successful tools for cultural preservation. The Garifuna Journey, produced in collaboration with Garifuna elders in Belize, was instrumental in gaining United Nations recognition as “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” for the Garifuna community.
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