Following El Salvador’s civil war, a farmers’ cooperative puts down roots, builds resilience and provides a model of how to mitigate climate change and resist unsustainable, extractive development.
In a fertile floodplain in El Salvador, where the great river meets the sea, a peasant movement puts down roots – growing resilience in the scorched earth of exile and civil war. But soon these farmers and fishing folk discover new challenges, and this time they are global: climate crisis, exacerbated by an economy of ruinous extraction. The solutions they come up with will be a revelation for audiences in the prosperous north. On the surface, the life of these campesinos may resemble the past: but in their model may lie the key to the future.
Canadian journalist, media personality and documentarian Avi Lewis, along with his wife, author Naomi Klein, has advocated for radically new social and political structures as the only viable and effective response to climate change. In KEEPERS OF THE FUTURE he profiles the Bajo Lempa coordinadora, a farmers’ cooperative that demonstrates how “deep local democracy” can help even a poor population build environmental, economic and political resilience.
Directed by Avi Lewis
Produced by Klein Lewis Productions
Director of Photography: Mark O Fearghaíl
Location Sound: Daniel Hewitt
Original Music: Adam White, David Wall
Editors: Eamonn O’Connor, Mary Lampson
Executive Producer: EcoViva