IMA students Katherine Machalek and Lizzie Warren presented a 360/VR film on grassroots activism against mining abuses in Guinea Thursday, November 16th from 6-7:30 pm at the CUNY Journalism School. The 360 video was shot in Guinea. It will provide advocates and communities with a new tool to help members of a community experience the transformation that mining can bring to their land.
Many Guinean villages are oblivious to exploitative nature and the devastating consequences of the mining industry. Mining companies come to poor villages and promise substantial community benefits, including schools and jobs. After signing a contract with the federal government for mineral rights, they’ll proceed to pollute the water and agricultural resources a community has relied on for generations, leading to negative health consequences and eventual displacement. With this film, the viewer gets a sense of the forces, places and people that are involved in the struggle against mining.
The 360 video includes shots from a variety of locations: the capital, a mining site, a displacement site and multiple sites in the community working to organize.