Documentary focuses spotlight on Houston
Filmed over six years, the environmental justice documentary “The Condor & The Eagle” quickly moves to Houston, where activists Bryan Parras and Yudith Nieto are seen working as community organizers in Manchester, a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood along the Houston Ship Channel and next to industry.
Directed by the French husband-and-wife team Clement and Sophie Guerra, production of the film was funded by a mix of grants and crowdfunding. Released in October, the film has been shown at film festivals in New York, Arizona and other states. It will make its Houston debut March 22 at the
Houston Latino Film Festival. More information is available at houstonlatinofilmfestival.org.
Working from the viewpoint that climate change is rooted in patriarchy, colonization, modernization and racism, Clement Guerra said the goal of the documentary was to show participants going from isolation to empowerment. Guerra said he and his wife chose Parras and Nieto as subjects for the film because of their work in Houston and in particular, the Manchester neighborhood.
“Other groups were also present, but they were mostly white privileged people who listened little to what the community said and needed,” Guerra said. “Yudith and Bryan stood out as emerging leaders from the communities themselves.”
The film documents the travels of Parras and Nieto to the U.N. Climate Summit in New York, the oil fields of Oklahoma, the tar sands mining operations in Fort McMurray, Alberta, and drilling operations in the Amazon Rain Forest, where they connect with Native American activists fighting environmental damage in their communities.
Although they saw shocking environmental degradation along the way, Nieto said, the experience was empowering.
“We were all going through a journey realizing that we weren’t alone,” Nieto said. “This wasn’t just happening in Houston and the Gulf Coast. It was happening in Oklahoma, the tar sands of Canada and to the people of the Amazon. We were able to see the bigger picture.”
Among those waiting to see the film is Nieto’s grandmother, Maria Cruz, who still lives in the neighborhood. Cruz’s house off Avenue O sat directly under a black cloud of smoke during the March 2019 fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Co. down the ship channel.
“We don’t have anything against the companies,” Cruz said. “We just want them to buy our houses and give us enough money for new houses.”
Since the documentary was filmed, Parras joined the San Francisco-based environmental group Sierra Club in May 2017 where he became an organizer for the organization’s Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign.
“Bryan is a movement leader who inspires people to take action and whose work supports communities all over the globe that are fighting back against dangerous fossil fuel projects,” Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels Director Kelly Martin said. “In his work with the Sierra Club as well as local community organizations, Bryan tirelessly speaks up against the corporate polluters that are poisoning communities and the regulators who are failing to hold them accountable.”