FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (December 29, 2008) Contacts: Mallory Knodel, Co-director Indigenous Voices (indigenousvoices.wordpress.com) 917.796.6884 [email protected]

Calendar Listing: January 29, 2008 at 7:00 pm Bluestockings Bookstore (www.bluestockings.com) 212.777.6028 172 Allen Street, NY

Indigenous Voices Film Series This Month's Screening Held in Conjunction with 2009 World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil

New York, NY (December 29, 2008) Since 2007, Indigenous Voices has provided a diverse group of folks that gather for discussions, film screenings, readings, performances, and music. Hosted by WBAI’s Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Indigenous Voices is a monthly series about ethnic identity, sovereignty, and the possibilities for Indigenous peoples to direct their own destinies. It is held on the last Thursday of every month at Bluestockings Bookstore.

Each month, a film is chosen that captures, tells, and embodies the spirit of an Indigenous group of people from anywhere in the world. Past films have featured films from the Mapuche Nation in Chile/ Argentina, Shoshone Nation in western United States, Mauri from New Zealand, Maasai & Tuareg from Africa, and many others.

The World Social Forum since its beginning and up to 2008 has been the most important yearly event in the anti-globaliztion movement, yet centralized events have been the only manifestation of this process, until MayFirst / PeopleLink of New York City successfully linked live with the Social Forum of the Americas for the first expanded, simultaneous Collaborative Democracy Workshop.

Once again, MayFirst/PeopleLink is helping to bring movements in New York together with larger global movements by providing the technology to link the World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil with the Indigenous Voices Film Series in New York at the end of this month.

Indigenous Voices presents The Trail of Tears Cherokee Legacy (2006, 94 minutes), a documentary from Rich-Heape Films starring James Earl Jones, James Garner, and Wes Studi. The film explores America’s darkest period: President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation to Oklahoma in 1838. Trail of Tears will be screened simultaneously in Belem, Brazil and New York on January 29th, 2009 at 7:00 pm EST.

The screening will be followed by a very special discussion with producer Steven Heape from Rich-Heape Films and participants at the World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil. The audiences will discuss with one another and Heape via video conferencing at Bluestockings Bookstore in New York.

MayFirst/PeopleLink is a key participant in the WSF2009 in New York by hosting other live-connections throughout the week of January 26 - February 2. Interested participants should not only attend this and other events happening in conjunction with the 2009 forum, but also schedule their own decentralized event in honor of the World Social Forum's global expansion. Expanded activities, events happening outside of Belem but named as part of WSF2009, will be published online. Please visit www.openfsm.net/ fsm2009e-newyork.