ROCKLAND — Documentary filmmaker Ben Levine will screen his film ANYUKOJMIT: We Are Totontepecanos about the people of a mountain town in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, on Thursday, Nov. 9, at 6:30 p.m. 

The Rockland Public Library and Good Tern Co-Op host the event, which is free and open to all. 

Learn what an Indigenous community devoted to producing and preparing some of the world’s most nutritious foods for the last 1,000 years looks like. Perched among the highest mountains in the Sierra Mixe cloud forest of Southern Mexico, the village of Totontepec and its culture open up over 12 years of filming in and by the community to reveal a worldview we can all be inspired by. Filmmaker Ben Levine and Producer Julia Schulz will be present to lead an audience discussion about the people and cuisine in this beautiful and entertaining 46 minute film. 

Ben Levine, documentary filmmaker, trained as a clinical psychologist. Aspects of his video feedback approach to filmmaking to deepen and recall emotional response and creative action, starting in 1971 at a camp for teens with disabilities, are illustrated in the 2020 Oscar-nominated film Crip Camp. He is recognized as a video pioneer, and his work has been presented on American and European Television as well as in diverse venues, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Hayden Planetarium. His three feature documentaries on endangered languages have been featured at numerous festivals and community and university presentations. He was the first person not of French-Canadian descent to be inducted into the Franco-American Hall of Fame for his filmmaking work that led to language and cultural revival.

With Julia Schulz, French Teacher and Language Educator, Levine founded Speaking Place, a Rockland-based nonprofit that provides media training and tools to communities seeking to engage for positive social change. Learn more about their work here: speakingplace.org.  

This event is co-sponsored with Good Tern Co-Op, a co-operative market, café, and bagel shop in Rockland, Maine providing the community with local and organic foods since 1980. Learn more about Good Tern here: https://goodtern.com/ 

This event will take place in the Community Room and will be livestreamed via Zoom; the Rockland Public Library is located at 80 Union St. For more information or for Zoom links, please email elewis@rocklandmaine.gov by 4 p.m. on November 9.

Registration is not required to attend; seating will be first-come, first-served.