Uganda and Haiti feature in two documentaries

Author: Ann Poochareon
Posted: August 8th, 2008 @ 12:08pm
Info: bio / all posts
Tags: film, Haiti, Uganda

Two interesting documentaries appeared on my blogosphere radar this past week. They’re not screening around me any time soon, but…

Diamonds in the rough is a documentary about a Ugandan hip-hop group that’s using its music to empower Ugandan people and organize against poverty, corruption and war. Here’s the YouTube trailer:

(via BoingBoing)

Secondhand (Pepe), meanwhile is about the role of used clothing as it impacts the social and economic conditions in Haiti:

‘Pepe’ is the name for the secondhand markets, the industry, the clothing, and the vendors. And while the origin of the term is disputed, Pepe dominates both the style and the economy of Haiti giving a second life to yesterday’s textiles. Daily shipments arrive on the Haitian shores that are then sorted and taken to tailors and markets throughout the country. Because of Pepe, thousands of tons of clothing each year escape the landfill and find their way back in fashion.

Here’s the 6-minute version of the film:

While the two don’t exactly have much in common in terms of subject matter, they both are talking about subjects that are a result of American culture dominating our globalized world - which is something many of us don’t tend to think about on a regular basis.