WEAVING NETWORKS
We met Ramón Balcázar in 2020, in San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), during the development of “Formando Rutas” , an educational project for young people from sacrifice zones. His passion to show that the desert is not a sterile place to be used by lithium mining companies, but rather a vibrant ecosystem, an extension of the people inhabiting the territory impressed us. Our friendship has endured ever since then.
However, the spark for #AllWeHaveIsUs arose in 2021, when Leyla welcomed us into her home and told us about her town Belén, in the Andean highlands. She told us how her community had stopped a Rio Tinto mining project. Ramón had connected with communities in Serbia facing the same struggle against Rio Tinto and at the insistence of both of them, this story of solidarity that was beginning to emerge had to be told.
A story of solidarity that was beginning to emerge had to be told.
Ramón has connections with international environmental movements through which he met Bojana Novakovic in 2022, a movie star whose movement stopped Rio Tinto in Serbia. We were drawn by her passion for mobilizing the press. Together with her friend Vladan Jakovljevic, a beekeeper that could be affected by the mine, they resisted bravely. The archive images documenting blockades and protests convinced us more of the enormous potential of this documentary. Even more so when the characters from both countries managed to meet in Portugal in 2023 to learn about other sacrifice zones affected by lithium extraction. There, an alliance called the Jadar Declaration was consolidated, to which more and more groups and associations have joined as members.
Leyla, Ramón, Bojana and Vladan opened the doors of their personal lives to us, sharing a desire common to ours: powerful testimonies that reflect the experiences of many brave communities in sacrifice zones. The tenacious character of the protagonists makes them living examples of solidarity, self-affirmation and joy, despite being in a world that is falling apart.
Our directing team, Aline Juárez and Juan Donoso, have both the sensitivity of auteur cinema and experience in climate communication. This makes them an ideal and unbeatable duo when it comes to telling the experiences of communities in their attempt to confront the exploitation of their territories. We want audiences to see the dignity of our characters, and how these territories, far from being just “sacrifice zones,” are also spaces where food systems, religious practices, and traditional dances flourish as acts of resistance.
WATCH THE TRAILER
THE PROTAGONISTS
Vladan Jakovljević / Serbia
Beekeeper from Jadar Valley and member of Ne Damo Jadar against Rio Tinto.
Bojana Novakovic / Serbia & New York
Actress and environmental activist from the Mars Sa Drine resistance movement.
Ramón Balcázar / Chile
Academic activist on the defense of wetlands from the The Alliance for Andean Wetlands.
Leyla Noriega / Chile
Aymara community journalist, defender of Andean territories from Belén says No to Mining.
This film is an invitation to imagine together a different future
Through #AllWeHaveIsUs, we do not seek the binary cliché of exposing the problems and illuminating the possibilities. By showing the struggle of these communities to preserve their territories and cultures, we want to demonstrate that there are more just and sustainable alternatives. This film is an invitation to imagine together a different future, in which development is not in conflict with life, but rather strengthens and celebrates it.
