- Iara Lee
-
Iara Lee is a Korean Brazilian film producer and director based in New York City. She is better known as the director of the documentaries Synthetic Pleasures and Modulations, as well as for her involvement with the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla", in which at least nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed by Israeli naval forces.
She is the founder of the Caipirinha Foundation and a member of the Council of Advisors to the National Geographic Society.[1]
She is married to billionaire George Gund III, 27 years her senior. [2]
Contents
Film career
From 1984 to 1989, Lee was the producer of the São Paulo International Film Festival. In 1989, Lee moved to New York City, where she founded Caipirinha Productions, a mixed-media production company aimed at exploring various forms of artistic expression, such as film, music, architecture and poetry.
In 1995, she released the documentary Synthetic Pleasures, which deals with the impact of high technology on mass culture. It was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival, and won the Jury Award for Best Documentary at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival.
In 1998, she released the multimedia project Modulations, which traces the evolution of electronic music. Her most recent film was Beneath the Borqa, a 2000 short documentary film about the lives of women and children under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. [3] Lee is also the director of the forthcoming feature-length documentary film, Cultures of Resistance, which celebrates creative acts of political struggle. The film will debut in its final form late in 2010.
Under the banner of Caipirinha Productions, Lee has also organized lectures, photo exhibits and fundraising events.[4]
Activism
As an activist, Lee has collaborated with numerous grassroots efforts and has supported initiatives such as the International Campaign to Ban Cluster Munitions, the Conflict Zone Film Fund, and the New York Philharmonic's groundbreaking concert in North Korea.
In 2008, Lee moved to Iran, where she supported the exchange of cultural projects between Iran and the West. Lee helped produce Iranian rapper Hichkas' "Ye Mosht Sarbaz (A Bunch of Soldiers)" music video,[5] which was directed and edited by Fred Khoshtinat.[6] During that time she also worked with US-based peace organizations on efforts to promote peaceful diplomacy between the US and Iran. Also in 2008, after experiencing the 2006 Lebanon War firsthand, Iara created the Make Films Not War campaign.
Iara Lee is a council member of the International Crisis Group and the National Geographic Society, as well as a trustee for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, North Korea's first privately funded university, the only in the country whose faculty is entirely composed by international professors.
Gaza flotilla
On May 2010, Lee participated in the "Freedom Flotilla" effort, organized by the Turkish NGO IHH and many other civil society organizations, to deliver a load of 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza and to protest against the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt to the territory.[7]
Upon landing in Istanbul, to where the activists from the flotilla were deported, Lee declared that "I go out with exclusive footage (of the attack) in high definition. [... ] I must go back to the USA and show it to the whole world." [8] This tape was subsequently released.[9][10][11]
Filmography
- Cultures of Resistance (2010)[12]
- Battle for the Xingu (2009)[13][14]
- Beneath the Borqa in Afghanistan (2002)
- Architettura (1999)
- Modulations (1998)
- Synthetic Pleasures (1995)
- An Autumn Wind (1994)
Interviews
- "TEO MACERO: Interview by Iara Lee", MODULATIONS, September 1997
- "Jon More Matt Black: Coldcut Interview by Iara Lee", Modulations, Summer 1997
References
- ^ http://www.nationalgeographic.com/donate/donors.html
- ^ http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/funderprofile.asp?fndid=5387&category=79
- ^ http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sfmetro/08.10.98/iaralee-9830.html
- ^ http://www.caipirinha.com/Dirpro/director.html
- ^ "Hich Kas: Bunch of Soldiers". Cultures of Resistance. http://www.culturesofresistance.org/hichkas-bunch-of-soldiers. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
- ^ "Persian's Underground Cinematic Arts : About us". Puca.ir. http://www.puca.ir/aboutus.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
- ^ Lee, Iara (2010-08-08). "What happened to us is happening in Gaza". The San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/05/EDC31DQ215.DTL.
- ^ "Brazilian filmmaker claims to have exclusive footage of the Israeli action". Gazetaweb.com. http://gazetaweb.globo.com/v2/noticias/texto_completo.php?c=206260. Retrieved 2010-06-03.
- ^ Siddique, Haroon (2010-06-11). "Gaza flotilla attack: activist releases new footage". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/11/gaza-flotilla-attack-new-video. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
- ^ "Israeli Attack on the Mavi Marmara, May 31st 2010, 15 min.". Cultures of Resistance. http://vimeo.com/12429821. Retrieved 2010-06-11.
- ^ "EXCLUSIVE: New Video Smuggled Out from Mavi Marmara of Israel’s Deadly Assault on Gaza Aid Flotilla", Democracy Now, June 10, 2010
- ^ http://www.culturesofresistance.org/iara-lee
- ^ http://www.unaff.org/2009/f_battle.html
- ^ http://www.denverfilm.org/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=22920&FID=49
http://frontpagemag.com/2011/06/30/how-billionaire-george-gund-iii-funds-jew-hate/
External links
- "Iara Lee", Shift
- Iara Lee at the Internet Movie Database
- Iara Lee's Smuggled Out Video from the Mavi Marmara by Democracy Now!
- What happened to us is happening in Gaza. By Iara Lee. San Francisco Chronicle. June 5, 2010.
Categories:- Living people
- Brazilian film directors
- Brazilian activists
- Female film directors
- Brazilian people of Korean descent
- Brazilian expatriates in the United States
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