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Film Screening and Discussion: We Still Here / Nos Tenemos
December 14, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Free with Museum Admission
This hybrid event offers an opportunity to hear from Place of Encounters artist Mario Marzan and filmmaker Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi whose lives and work intersect in stories of deconstruction, reconstruction, and resilience.
On residency in Spain, Marzan has prepared a video introduction to his artistic practice which integrates nature and art through the discipline of walking the landscape. Born in Puerto Rico, Marzan’s work in our exhibition examines hurricanes and their paths as means by which to interpret cultures from the Caribbean, Gulf Basin and US South. “My work is a response to the changing landscapes of the area, suggesting the storm’s power to alter not just the physical terrain, but also individual psyches and the broader cultures of such affected regions. In referencing the hurricane’s continual transformation of landscapes and mentalities, I hope to provoke certain questions with my work: How do we “map” memories? How is a visual crisis represented?”
A screening of We Still Here/ Nos Tenemos and panel discussion will follow featuring the filmmaker Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi, Anna Lee of Working Films, and Audrey Hart of the NHC Resiliency Task Force.
We Still Here introduces the incredible youth of Comerío, Puerto Rico navigating the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, a disaster that brought an unprecedented level of devastation. In the lush mountains in the center of Puerto Rico, 24-year-old Mariangelie Ortiz leads a group of young residents who never thought they would become the leaders of their community, nonetheless find themselves traveling to Washington D.C. to protest in the halls of Congress. Follow them in this coming of age story to find their power and begin creating a sustainable future for themselves and their community.
Professor Mario Marzán is an artist who creates work about the constantly shifting, changing and evolving negotiation of liminal spaces in relation to individual and cultural identities and histories. His research interests include landscape drawing and painting, investigations of place and space as a way to discuss identity, and maps as modes of representation. Among drawing courses, Professor Marzán teaches an immersive Walking Seminar course on the intersections of art and nature during UNC Maymesters. An avid hiker and long distance backpacker, Mario carries a NOLS Wilderness Medicine Institute Wilderness First Aid certification and has walked both the Camino del Norte and the Camino Frances. He holds a BFA from Bowling Green University and a MFA from Carnegie Mellon University.
Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi is an award-winning filmmaker and currently the director of FistUp.TV, a production company that documents people’s stories from around the world as a way to expand community awareness around issues of social responsibility and cultural identity. His work has circulated through the National Broadcast: Free Speech TV, Teaching Channel, PBS, and Vibe magazine. He is the cofounder of Defend Puerto Rico, a multimedia project designed to document and celebrate Puerto Rican creativity, resilience, and resistance, and he curates the annual Fist Up Film Festival in the San Francisco Bay Area. His dedication to his craft is deeply connected to his commitment to social justice and belief in the transformative power of film. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and holds an MA degree from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.