All presentations include selected scenes from “Dream People of the Amazon.”

David & Goliath in the Amazon How a Small Indigenous Group Triumphed over Big Oil

A remote and pristine corner of the Amazon rain forest is the home of the Achuar people. These indigenous people are still living much as their ancestors did.

But the Achuar have done something absolutely unprecedented.

They have protected their territory from the seemingly overwhelming destructive power of the industrialized world, which wants the oil that lies beneath that undisturbed forest. In this presentation I reveal the sophisticated, ethical, and effective ways that the Achuar are acting as a modern-day David facing an industrial Goliath. All of us can use these techniques in our daily lives.

Audience: General public / college students and faculty

Changing the World Two Tactics That Make Environmental Activism Work







I approach this topic from three points of view: as a filmmaker, as a non-academic who knows that history can constantly teach us about our lives today, and as someone who loves to connect the dots.

First, I look at humans’ perpetual tendency to invade each other—throughout the centuries with the military, but today with corporations as well. Touching on John Perkins’ best-selling books "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" and "The Secret History of the American Empire," I quickly summarize the seemingly unstoppable forces of money and power, and how these forces are driving environmental devastation and abuses of human rights.

But the at the heart of the presentation is a surprise, a cause for optimism.

Several small groups of people, including the Achuar (about whom I made my documentary film “Dream People of the Amazon") are using two principal tactics to counter the money and power of multinational corporations—and win.

We really can change the world.

Audience: College students and faculty / general public

Killer Ants, Edible Ants, and a Liberal Arts Education





While I was filming in the Amazon rain forest, my Achuar colleague and guide, Domingo Peas, saved my life by flicking away a huge black ant that was about to inject its powerful neurotoxin into my neck. That evening, at Domingo’s urging, I ate some tiny red ants. Their spicy lemon flavor was delicious.

Two weeks later, I was acting as Domingo’s guide and interpreter as we made their way from Rotterdam to The Hague, the capital of Holland, where Domingo would speak at a United Nations conference on climate change.

These diverse experiences led me to an inquiry into the exciting places where the natural world, global citizenship, and a liberal arts education intersect.

Audience: College undergraduates, especially freshmen / faculty / general public

Dissecting a Documentary
“Dream People of the Amazon”





Intended primarily for film schools, this presentation also gives the general public an unusual look behind the scenes at the decisions involved in making a documentary film in a remote corner of the Amazon rain forest.

How do you make a documentary about people who don’t like their picture taken? How do you establish the theme of the film in the first fifteen seconds? How do you deal with another culture’s legal—and sacred—use of something that in our culture is illegal?

Rather than focusing on technology, the presentation emphasizes the creative decisions that add power to film and video production.

Depending on your needs, this presentation can incorporate a high degree of audience participation.

Audience: Film schools / film and media programs in colleges / general public

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