Iara Lee

Iara Lee is a Brazilian film director, producer and activist of Korean descent. From 1984 to 1989, she was the producer of the Sao Paulo International Film Festival in Brazil. From 1989 to 2003, she was based in New York City, where she ran the mixed-media company Caipirinha Productions. She is the founder of Cultures of Resistance Network, an organization that promotes global solidarity through creative resistance and nonviolent action, and the director of Cultures of Resistance Films. At the onset of the Iraq war in 2003, she decided to live in the MENA region in order to understand the conflict from that perspective. She spent extensive time in Syria, Yemen, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iran. In May 2010, she was a passenger on the MV Mavi Marmara, a vessel in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla that was attacked in international waters by the Israeli navy, leading to the murder of nine humanitarian aid workers.

Modulations (1998)

Less a documentary than a primer on all electronic music. Featuring interviews with nearly every major player past and present, as well as a few energetic live clips, Modulations delves into one of electronica's forgotten facets: the human element. Lee travels the ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Iara Lee
CAST:  Karlheinz Stockhausen  •  Moby  •  Afrika Bambaataa  •  Derrick May

Less a documentary than a primer on all electronic music. Featuring interviews with nearly every major player past and present, as well as a few energetic live clips, Modulations delves into one of electronica's forgotten facets: the human element. Lee travels the ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Iara Lee
CAST:  Karlheinz Stockhausen  •  Moby  •  Afrika Bambaataa  •  Derrick May

Synthetic Pleasures (1995)

Conceived as an electronic road movie, this documentary investigates cutting edge technologies and their influence on our culture as we approach the 21st century. It takes off from the idea that mankind's effort to tap the power of Nature has been so successful ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Iara Lee
CAST: 

Conceived as an electronic road movie, this documentary investigates cutting edge technologies and their influence on our culture as we approach the 21st century. It takes off from the idea that mankind's effort to tap the power of Nature has been so successful ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Iara Lee
CAST: 

Cultures of Resistance (2010)

In 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, acclaimed director Iara Lee embarked on a journey to better understand a world increasingly embroiled in conflict and, as she saw it, heading for self-destruction. After several years, traveling over five continents, Iara ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Iara Lee
CAST:  Cornelius Keagon

In 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, acclaimed director Iara Lee embarked on a journey to better understand a world increasingly embroiled in conflict and, as she saw it, heading for self-destruction. After several years, traveling over five continents, Iara ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Iara Lee
CAST:  Cornelius Keagon

The Suffering Grasses (2012)

With thousands dead and counting, the ongoing conflict in Syria has become a microcosm for the complicated politics of the region, and an unsavory reflection of the world at large. Against the backdrop of the Arab Spring and the complicated politics of the region, ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Iara Lee
CAST: 

With thousands dead and counting, the ongoing conflict in Syria has become a microcosm for the complicated politics of the region, and an unsavory reflection of the world at large. Against the backdrop of the Arab Spring and the complicated politics of the region, ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Iara Lee
CAST: 

Battle for the Xingu (2009)

The government-planned hydroelectric Belo Monte dam would be the world's third-largest and would displace tens of thousands of indigenous people and local farmers who depend upon the Xingu tributary of the Amazon for their way of life. In 2008 over 1,000 of them ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Iara Lee
CAST: 

The government-planned hydroelectric Belo Monte dam would be the world's third-largest and would displace tens of thousands of indigenous people and local farmers who depend upon the Xingu tributary of the Amazon for their way of life. In 2008 over 1,000 of them ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Iara Lee
CAST: 

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DIRECTION:  Iara Lee
CAST: 

K2 & The Invisible Footmen (2015)

K2 is widely seen as the world's harshest mountain. Yet many indigenous porters make a living in its extreme conditions, carrying provisions for foreign climbing expeditions. Often risking their lives, they receive minimal pay for their efforts. Against a backdrop ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Iara Lee
CAST: 

K2 is widely seen as the world's harshest mountain. Yet many indigenous porters make a living in its extreme conditions, carrying provisions for foreign climbing expeditions. Often risking their lives, they receive minimal pay for their efforts. Against a backdrop ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Iara Lee
CAST: 

Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse (2020)

Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse examines the underground culture of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Three decades after the world's most infamous nuclear disaster, wildlife has returned in the absence of human settlements. Meanwhile, illegal hiking ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Iara Lee
CAST:  Iara Lee

Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse examines the underground culture of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Three decades after the world's most infamous nuclear disaster, wildlife has returned in the absence of human settlements. Meanwhile, illegal hiking ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Iara Lee
CAST:  Iara Lee