For a long period of time, the production of audiovisual documents (reports, exhibitions, interviews…) about the MST was made by supporters and friends of the movement. Even though these documents turned out to be reliable, they did not always convey the ideas, values and images that the movement wishes to promote. In addition, for the MST, it is extremely important to combat the very bad and disparaging image conveyed by the most distributed Brazilian media outlets. It is now necessary that MST members produce their own audiovisual documents on the movement.
An audiovisual ‘brigade’ to better convey MST’s messages
At the national Florestan Fernandes School [2] (ENFF), the communication and culture courses offers a wide training that includes theatre, music and audiovisual classes. 20 people among the students following this course have formed a ‘brigade’ to produce films about the movement. Among them, activists of the MST along with some supporters of related movements such as the Comissão Pastoral da Terra [3], or the Movimento dos Atingindos por Baragems [4]. This training allows them to analyze documentaries and films already produced on the movement and scrutinize them to check if the ideas shown match with the message that the MST wishes to convey, and to understand the mechanisms and techniques of film editing in order to use them later on.
Cameras, tapes, micros and other audiovisual means that were made available to the participants during the classes have allowed the ‘brigade’ to begin making a film on the 5th congress of the Landless Workers Movement. This initiative came out of a course in which they had analyzed the previous film produced on the last MST congress. This collective experience has allowed everyone, member or not of the MST, to help the promotion and disclosure of the values and struggles carried out by the movement. “I have no specific audiovisual skills. But for me, the film’s editing process has been a memorable experience. It’s a lasting and absorbing job during which one has to consider his own limits but it is also necessary to go beyond these limits and to improve the job”, testifies Luciana, MST activist and member of the audiovisual brigade.
Communication is at the centre of MST concerns
At a time when globalization requires continuous innovation in the way one needs to communicate, thanks to new technologies, the MST strengthens by these means their communication tools. The training provided by ENFF School has for the first time allowed the activists to enjoy a collective experience through the creation of the first ‘brigade’. The MST hopes that activists from all over Brazil will be able to share their experiences as they return to the assentamento [5] where they live. In the short run, the idea is that each assentamento could set up their own local media and produce their own films and videos. The training could be extended to different social movements so that their ideas might be dissimulated in all Brazil but also internationally.
