A film by Michael J. Palmer and Charles K. Mann

Executive Producer: Guy Stuart

Film: 28 minutes: DVD includes three short features:  In Spanish with English subtitles. 

DVD includes Teachers' Menu for easy access to all scenes.

What is poverty?  Set in rural Oaxaca, Southern Mexico, the film's engaging personalities and community celebrations reveal the complexities of this question and highlight strategies that people and communities use to manage and minimize risk.  Commissioned by the Harvard Kennedy School to spark discussion about the nature of poverty, the DVD also includes three special features for more in-depth discussions: The Trout Farm; The Tequio System (community self-help); Oportunidades (Mexican government school scholarship program). 

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View more details at: IMDb.com

Purchase Si No Llueve ($12.95) at:  Amazon or CustomFlix

Purchase the return visit (see below):  Regreso DVD at Amazon or Regreso DVD at CreateSpace

Resources: Poverty, Risk, and Community

Full Description 

This film was developed as an introduction to a workshop at Harvard University to develop strategies to reduce poverty in Southern Mexico. A joint project of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and Mexico’s Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, the workshop brought together graduate students from Monterrey Tech with development specialists from both institutions. To open the workshop, the organizers wanted a film that would let the students “walk in the shoes of the poor.” Drawing on her detailed research and community ties in rural Oaxaca, ethnographer Mariana Gabarrot Arenas worked with the filmmakers to capture a sense of the rich tapestry of village life, not only the challenges of poverty but the vitality and spirit with which the communities confront their challenges. El Carrizal seeks to develop a government sponsored trout farm into a touristic destination; Villa Diaz Ordaz depends upon worker remittances from the USA to support the housing construction that provides jobs to community members. Crafted to stimulate discussion, the film provides rich insights into the forces that fuel the massive migration pressures from Mexico to the USA.

Film by Michael J. Palmer and Charles K. Mann
In Spanish with English subtitles.

Produced and ©2006 by The Development Communications Workshop in collaboration with the Communities of Villa Diaz Ordaz and El Carrizal with support from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey project leader, Guy Stuart, KSG; ethnographer Mariana Gabarrot Arenas, ITESM.

DVD-R Price, Film and Features: $12.95

• Film, Si No Llueve (If It Doesn't Rain): 28 minutes
• El Carrizal Trout Farm: Origins, Challenges, Outlook (11 minutes)
• The Tequio System: Projects, Women, Burdens (8 minutes)
• Oportunidades: Recipients, Requirements, Opinions (9 minutes)

Purchase the DVD from: CustomFlix.com or Amazon.com or Eight Cousins .
View/Download the One Sheet

View the trailer for Si No Llueve