"LIFE IS WAITING: Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara" – is a film directed by Iara Lee.

Forty years after its people were promised freedom by departing Spanish rulers, Western Sahara remains Africa’s last colony. This film chronicles the everyday violence experienced by Sahrawis living under Moroccan occupation and voices their struggle for self-determination through creative resistance and non-violence.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/123847322 Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/LifeIsWaiting Website: http://culturesofresistancefilms.com/western-sahara

Bio: Iara Lee, a Brazilian of Korean descent, is an activist, filmmaker, and director of the Cultures of Resistance Network. In 2010, she released her feature-length documentary entitled CULTURES OF RESISTANCE, which explores how creative action contributes to conflict prevention and resolution. As an extension of her commitment to the issues explored in the film, she also founded the Cultures of Resistance Network, an organization that promotes global solidarity, supports efforts to secure peace and social justice, and brings together artists and changemakers from around the world.

Iara has also continued to produce and direct documentary films. She just finished two new docs: K2 AND THE INVISIBLE FOOTMEN, shot in stunning northern Pakistan, it is about the plight of the unsung heroes, the indigenous porters of majestic K2, the earth’s second-highest peak. LIFE IS WAITING: Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara, looks at 40 years of Moroccan occupation and the sahrawi nonviolent struggle for self-determination by a people for whom colonialism has never ended. In 2013, Iara made a short film entitled THE KALASHA AND THE CRESCENT, which chronicles how an indigenous movement in northern Pakistan is responding to the challenges facing their culture. In 2012, she released a documentary called THE SUFFERING GRASSES: when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers, which examines the Syrian conflict through the humanity of the civilians who have been killed, abused, and displaced to the squalor of refugee camps.

In May 2010, Iara was a passenger on the MV Mavi Marmara, a vessel in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla which was attacked in international waters by the Israeli navy, leading to the murder of nine humanitarian aid workers. Among the many people who recorded the events on that ship, her crew was the only one to successfully hide and retain most of the raid footage, which she later released to the world after a screening at the United Nations. Iara is dedicated to the support of Palestinian civilians who have been victims of war crimes committed by the Israeli military and who suffer from the Israeli government's ongoing acts of collective punishment.

At the onset of the Iraq war in 2003, Iara decided to travel and live in the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa) in order to understand the conflict better. While residing in Lebanon in 2006, she experienced firsthand the 34-day Israeli bombardment of that country. Moved by that experience, she has since dedicated herself to the pursuit of a just peace in the region, and she is an enthusiastic supporter of those initiatives which strengthen adherence to international law in enforcing human rights. In 2008 Iara lived in Iran and supported a number of cultural exchange projects between that country and the West with the goal of promoting arts & culture for global solidarity.

From 1984 to 1989 Iara was the producer of the Sao Paulo International Film Festival in Brazil. From 1989-2003 she was based in New York City, where she ran the mixed-media company Caipirinha Productions, created to explore the synergy of different artforms (such as film, music, architecture, and poetry). Under that banner, Iara directed short and feature-length documentaries including Synthetic Pleasures, Modulations, Architettura, and Beneath the Borqa.

Iara is a member of the International Council of Advisors of the National Geographic Society, a long-time supporter of Greenpeace and Amnesty International, and many organizations around the world. Through the Cultures Of Resistance Network foundation, she connects and collaborates with activists, agitators, educators, and artists to build a more just and peaceful world through creative resistance and nonviolent action! http://culturesofresistance.org/groups-we-support

All are welcome. Entry - Free.