When Clouds Clear

Farmers have been raising crops in Junin, a community in the mountains of Ecuador, for many years, but in the early years of the 21st Century, a Canadian mining firm, Ascendant Copper, laid claim to a large section of farmland that they intend to use to bring precious minerals to the surface.

The farmers insisted they have a legitimate right to their own land, and when a handful of the property owners protested the arrival of the miners by setting fire to some of Ascendant's buildings, the company responded by hiring strong-arm men to run the farmers off their land using violence.

Since then, both sides have been involved in a pitched legal battle over the rights to the land, and filmmakers Anne Slick and Danielle Bernstein explore the story of the farmers and their struggle to protect their way of life in the documentary Despues de la Neblina (aka When Clouds Clear), which includes newsreel footage of the attacks on farmers by hired thugs.

When Clouds Clear received its American debut at the 2008 Santa Barbara Film Festival, where it received a special award for films exploring issues of social justice.