Greetings from El Salvador! The conference has been so jam-packed that I'm only now getting around to my first blogpost. Here's a picture of everybody at the opening session on Monday, which consisted of a plenary and a whole morning of viewing programs as an entire group. This is a new approach, and included some excerpts, which has been a bit controversial but it's in the spirit of INPUT to create new challenges for itself and this new format allows more films to be shown.
But! Even before the conference officially began, on Sunday, those of us who have been coming to INPUT for more than 2 years in a row, as well as the Board and the moderators (that's the new name for the shop stewards) were invited to lunch at the Presidential Palace! El Salvador's Secretary of Communications, David Rivas, addressed the gathering. This is a great time to have this conference in el Salvador because the country is re-establishing its public media and there's lots of excited talk about what that can mean for the people of the country. Hopefully the INPUT presence will inspire and support their efforts. Here is our US moderator Eren McGinnis In the middle) with some international colleagues, waiting for the luncheon to begin.
Also - I just have to include this beautiful photo of a painting in the Museo de Arte de El Salvador, to share a little of the tropical flavor of this country.
We have quite a few American programs represented here this year, 8 in all, including 1 that was commissioned by a station (KCTS) and another by station producers from Penn State. Here are some of our presenters at their sessions:
Marty Syjuco and Michael Collins presented "Give Up Tomorrow" at the opening session on Monday.
Jhene Erwin presented her short dramatic film "The House I Keep", a commission of KCTS Seattle, at the plenary session as well.
Lindsey Whissel is the director of "You Can't Say That," a production of Penn State Public Broadcasting, producer Joe Myers. It was featured in a session called "How To Deliver Tough Topics To Teens." Joe also brought a Penn State program to INPUT two years ago in Budapest. Go station producers!
Today, Tuesday, Kimberley Bautista presented her documentary "Justice for My Sister" at a session called "Crusading Journalism - When Is It Journalism, When Is It Just a Crusade?" She is Colombian American but her film was entered by El Salvador and tells the story of a murdered Guatemalan woman. In the afternoon Kimberley and journalist Monica Gonzalez Islas presented a session on women and girls that marks the beginning of the broadcast of the documentary series 'Women & Girls' on Canal 10, El Salvador.
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