Photojournalism festival with Latin American themes

Photojournalism festival brings European audiences closer to Latin American themes

Political crises, violence and social and environmental conflicts in Latin American countries mark the program of exhibitions and projection of reports at the 35th edition of the Visa pour l’Image International Photojournalism Festival, currently held in Perpignan, in the south of France. Photographers from the continent, as well as Europeans and North Americans, document relevant current issues in Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, among other countries in the region.

The French and international public remains loyal to this free entry event, the largest in the world of photojournalism. One of the reasons for this success is the wide variety of reports selected.

The festival's evening program, with projections of photographic reports and retrospectives of notable events from the last 12 months, was inaugurated with a series of images by Brazilian photographer Francisco Proner about the October 2022 presidential elections in Brazil. For several months, he followed Lula and Jair Bolsonaro's rallies for the newspaper Le Monde and other outlets.

The 2,000 people who filled Campo Santo, an old medieval cemetery in the historic center of Perpignan, transformed into an immense open-air auditorium, saw images of a polarized country parade on a large screen. On one side, voters dressed in red, non-violent PT militants and hopeful of seeing Lula back as president. In the opposing camp, voters in yellow-green, fed by Bolsonarist propaganda, in several situations with weapons in hand.

Proner was pleased with the French public's good response to his coverage. Modestly, he told RFI that the applause at the end of the screening "was more for Bolsonaro's defeat than for my photographs."

The Brazilian, who has closely followed the festival's programming for seven years, believes that the organizers are open to Latin American narratives and give space for the expression of the region's problems.

"I always like to see Latin American photographers being represented here and Europeans who document the countries of the region, transmitting a positive vision about the sovereignty of the peoples of Latin America", he highlighted.

Violence against communities and women

In the 2023 schedule, Proner highlights the work of the Italian Nicola Okin Frioli, who, like himself, also documented the impact of oil exploration by multinationals on indigenous communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

The man from Paraná also praises the images of Venezuelan Ana María Arévalo Gosen, who records the incarceration of women in her country and the early pregnancies of teenagers in Venezuela. With abortion still prohibited in the country, the solution to the problem among poor girls could come from access to the pill. But, due to the economic crisis, a pack of contraceptives in Venezuela is sold at exorbitant prices, from US$25 to US$30 per box of pills, as shown in the report.

Colombian is awarded

Colombian photographer Federico Ríos Escobar unanimously won the Golden Visa Humanitarian Award from the jury, granted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (CICR), a partner of the festival.

Luis Miguel Arias, 28, and his daughter Melissa, 4, originally from Venezuela, take a break while climbing a hill in the Darién region, between Colombia and Panama. The father was exhausted with fatigue. © Federico Rios Escobar Lauréat du Visa d’or humanitarianire du Comité International de la Croix-Rouge (CICR) 2023

Federico exhibits 30 striking images in Perpignan about a little-known migration route in Europe, which crosses the Darién tropical forest, a 100-kilometer strip of dense forest between Colombia and Panama. There are no highways between the two countries, and the Darién jungle physically separates South America from Central America.

Several migrants have already drowned in the region's rivers. In this image, after several days of walking through the jungle between the two Americas, they arrive at the mouth of the Darién and form a human chain to resist the current of the Tacarti River. © Federico Rios Escobar Lauréat du Visa d’or humanitarianire du Comité International de la Croix-Rouge (CICR) 2023

This path, opened in 2010 by Venezuelans, who sought to reach Mexico and then enter the United States, is now used by migrants of 97 nationalities – Haitians, Afghans, Syrians, Chinese, among other foreigners.

Every day, families with babies, children and elderly people risk their lives on a dangerous crossing, for which they are not prepared due to the climatic conditions of the tropical forest. In the beginning, 10 thousand migrants used the Darién route per year; in 2022 there were 250 thousand people and, in 2023, there are already 360 thousand migrants by the month of August.

Sebastian Colmenares, 8 years old, cries as he hears the community leader of El Abuelo tell the group that the crossing of the jungle is over. Behind him, his brother Juan, 10 years old, and his mother, Elgymar Galinde, are also very excited to know that they have left the forest behind. © Federico Rios Escobar Lauréat du Visa d’or humanitarianire du Comité International de la Croix-Rouge (CICR) 2023

"I have been doing this work since 2021 with Julie Turkewitz, my colleague at the New York Times, writer and great friend. We have already crossed the jungle several times", Federico reported to RFI. He said he felt "huge satisfaction" upon learning of the recognition for this work.

"Let's take this story to more people, so they know what is happening in Darién, how many people are risking their lives for the dream of reaching the United States and getting a basic minimum for their daily life," he said. "I think it's an award that I receive with generosity, with humility, with a very open heart, but also with a spirit of commitment, to continue telling these stories of social injustice around the world," he concluded. The Visa pour l’Image festival continues until September 17th.

https://www.rfi.fr/br/podcasts/rendez-vous-cultural/20230908