The ecocinema is our summer programme (every thursday for 10 weeks) for vulnerable neighborhoods in Santiago de Chile that suffer from violence, gangs and general unsafety. Its goal is to recuperate public spaces for neighbors and generate meaningful dialogue through culture and environmental education. We seek your support to cover the cost of production, profesionalize the equipment, include more services for the assistants and hold campaign to invite people to come to the weekly festival.
Santiago is a metropolis with over 400,000 habitants but with a floating population of over a million people every day. Over the last few years many highrises have increased the population, but also gangs and delincuents have put pressure on traditional neighborhoods, increasing the (sense of) unsafety. Families and the eldery wont leave their houses after 7pm anymore, leaving the streets to delinquents and criminals. Social cohesion and general wellbeing is heavily affected by this.
More and more funds are spent on camaras and security guards to keep people safe, and it sure is necessary but public spaces still do not belong to the people who live in Santiago. People are not empowered to take back the streets to play, to talk, to hang out and make it part of their lives. The Ecocinema brings this back for one night (to start with) and sets the stage for more activities in the future by actively involving neighborhood organizations and the people who lead their community.
By repeating this program for a third year in a row the streets are given back to the people and new bonds are forged, between the people and also with the municipality and organizations like ours. Only by repeating programs like this one we can truly give back the streets to the people and bring back communities.
