Martha Wallner (Media Justice History Project) Xchange TV: Nicaraguan Television & Latin American Video Archives In response to U.S. military intervention in Central America during the 1980s, a group of New York-based independent producers formed the solidarity project Xchange TV. The goal was to facilitate exchange of television programs between the peoples of North and Central America during the United States blockade on trade with Nicaragua (1985-1990). During this period, a number of videotapes were made by North Americans for North Americans as part of the solidarity movement. Xchange TV tapes are different; they were made by Nicaraguans for Nicaraguans and they show the new society in all its complexity, struggle and humanity. They include tapes from the Ministry of Agrarian Reform (MIDINRA), the Ministry of Interior, Sistema Sandinista de Televisión (SSTV), and Taller Popular de Video Timoteo Valasquez (People's Video Workshop) run for the workers' unions CST (Central Sandinista de Trabajadores) and ATC (Asociación d Trabajadores del Campo). During the United States blockade and contra war, Nicaraguan production units commonly recycled videotapes. Consequently, the copies that Xchange TV brought to the United States are all that remain of some programming made during the 1980s. They represent an important record of communications practices during this dynamic period in Nicaragua's history. In the early 1990s, Martha Wallner and Karen Ranucci worked with Pat Keeton at Ramapo College of New Jersey to form the Latin American Video Archives or LAVA project – which included Xchange TV tapes and others Ranucci gathered throughout Latin America. LAVA is a collection of Latin American and U.S. Latino videos previously distributed to educational institutions across the United States and Canada. Ranucci subsequently operated an information clearinghouse called the International Media Resource Exchange (IMRE) and maintained many of the tapes from the original LAVA collection. Plans are in progress to place part of the Xchange TV collection in a digital repository in the U.S. and Nicaragua. Screening (excerpts from each): Sociodrama (La Ciera Colective and MIDINRA Communications Unit, ca. 1984) 3/4-inch U-matic videotape, color, sound Produced by the Ciera
Collective affiliated with the communications unit of the Ministry of
Agrarian Reform (MIDINRA). Sociodrama is a form of popular education used to explore new ideas
and controversial themes. These sociodrama campesinos in the small town of El Regadio create a
series of vignettes illustrating the revolution’s positive impact on
their town as well as one town member’s skepticism. Cabildo de Mujeres (SSTV, ca. 1986) 3/4-inch U-matic videotape, color, sound Sistema Sandinista de Televisión broadcast the program Cabildo de Mujeres
(Women's Town Hall Meeting), in which women gather to discuss and
debate proposed changes to the Nicaraguan constitution including policies on
abortion, divorce, prostitution, child support, and domestic violence. Aqui en Esta Esquina (SSTV, 1984) 3/4-inch U-matic videotape, color, sound Aqui en Esta Esquina was produced by Sistema Sandinista de Television during the 1980s after the Nicaraguan Revolution in 1979. The show was produced on location with live audiences in towns throughout Nicaragua. A game show with a revolutionary twist, the program had children and elders perform local folk arts and audience members compete for modest prizes. The Sandinista-inspired quiz competitions involved questions about their town's historical contributions to the revolution. Preservation services donated by The MediaPreserve.
See Paula Félix-Didier, "The Latin American Video Archives (LAVA): Helping a Small Video Archive Develop a Preservation Plan," NYU MIAP paper, Fall 2004. Available at the MIAP digital repository of student work: www.nyu.edu/tisch/preservation/program/student_work. Also attached below.
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