Award-Winning Film Yasuni Man Screened in LA with Special Guests | Amazon Watch
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Award-Winning Film Yasuni Man Screened in LA with Special Guests

The event began with a "green carpet" welcoming, included a special performance by John Densmore of The Doors, and ended with an expert panel discussion

June 14, 2018 | Eye on the Amazon

The live stream is now complete.

Watch the recorded version of the live discussion here.

For those without the opportunity to travel to the Amazon, film provides an eye-opening way to begin to understand the mysteries of the rainforest.

One such film is Yasuni Man, an award-winning documentary by filmmaker Ryan Killackey that tells the story of the Waorani people and their ancestral land, which, though one of the most biodiverse forests on earth, is threatened by extractive industries. Obviously, Yasuní National Park and Biosphere Reserve is one of the worst places on the planet to drill for oil.

Amazon Watch has had the privilege of working closely with the filmmaker and we are immensely proud of the enormous success that the film has achieved. It’s won awards at nearly half of the dozens of film festivals in which it has appeared!

That’s why tonight we organized a special benefit screening with the filmmaker, environmental leaders, and celebrity supporters in honor of the conclusion of Yasuni Man‘s festival run. The screening in Los Angeles will be preceded by a “green carpet” event with interviews with environmental leaders and celebrities and a brief performance by John Densmore of the Doors.

Following the film will be a Q&A with filmmaker Ryan Patrick Killackey; Leila Salazar-López, Amazon Watch Executive Director; Tom Smith, Founding Director of UCLA Center for Tropical Research; Monic Uriarte, Organizer for People Not Pozos and Promoter of Esperanza Community Housing; and Grandmother Gloria Arellanes Pesagason Havoot, Tongva Tribe elder. The panelists will discuss the impacts of oil drilling on rainforest biodiversity and indigenous peoples and its connection to California and the entire globe.

Also attending the screening will be noted actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr., John Densmore (of The Doors), Mickey Sumner (Frances Ha), A Bone Martinez (Longmire), Janicza Bravo (Director, Gregory Go Boom), Brett Gelman (Eagleheart), Emma Bell (Frozen), Karolina Wydra (House, Trueblood), and more!

Why does this matter? About half of the oil exports from the Western Amazon Basin come to California to be processed by refineries, including Chevron’s El Segundo refinery, and used by businesses and consumers. Advocates are calling on Governor Jerry Brown to stop expanding oil and gas extraction at his Global Climate Action Summit this September. In order to meet the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming below 2°C, we need to keep at least two-thirds of fossil fuels in the ground. Stopping Amazon drilling is an important step toward a just transition to 100% clean and renewable energy.

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