Mrs. Freda Sideroff was born in Punta Gorda Toledo District, Belize to Rosenda and Guadalupe Paulino. She was later raised in Punta Gorda Town during her formative years and moved to Los Angeles, California in 1978. She owes her upbringing to her aunt Virginia Roches, uncle Edison Roches now deceased, grandparents, Stephen and Eulojia Paulino, Thomas and Felipa Enriquez. Since a kid, she was born into the Garifuna culture and later discovered that her great grandmother, Maria Teul, was Mayan. This is how her love and respect towards indigenous cultures emerged.
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Festival internacional de cine garífuna e indígena en memoria de Shana Donahue
Festival internacional de cine garífuna e indígena, esta vez dio un mensaje al mundo sobre la violencia de género, una verdadera catástrofe social, que no hay que callar.
Tegucigalpa, Honduras 18 de octubre de 2020.- Con gran éxito se llevó a cabo el Festival internacional de cine garífuna e indígena, en memoria de la malograda profesional estadounidense Shana Donahue. El propósito del evento es mostrar al mundo, el arte y la creatividad de nuestros pueblos en materia cinematográfica.
La presidenta del Festival internacional de cine garífuna e indígena, Freda Sideroff se mostró satisfecha del montaje y en relación a Shana Donahue, dijo que no es el momento de hacer silencio, un mensaje dirigido, especialmente a las mujeres víctimas de violencia de género.
En esta oportunidad, aunque tiene su sede en Los Ángeles, el Festival internacional de cine garífuna e indígena fue virtual en aplicación de las indicaciones relativas a la pandemia Covid 19.
«Mi hija Eulogia Goree es quien organizó este evento debido a sus propias experiencias personales con la violencia y el abuso doméstico», relató Sideroff
En adición, mencionó que «Es importante que demos voz y empoderemos a quienes están sufriendo, especialmente porque lo vemos sucediendo dentro de nuestras comunidades y familias y permanecemos en silencio. El silencio perpetúa la violencia y el abuso en el hogar».
Leer también. Campaña de OFRANEH-Garífuna en Europa
La era digital
El momento es la era digital, la globalización y la interconexión es la orden del día, los pueblos indígenas y garífunas cuentan con una extraordinaria oportunidad para producir sus
propias historias, con esto logran dar a conocer sus leyendas y su problemáticas social.
En relación a Shana Donahue, fue una mujer de mucho talento que falleció en manos de su pareja hace unos meses.
Shana Donahue, de 26 años, era maestra en Freshfarm FoodPrints, visitaba escuelas públicas de Washington y enseñaba a los estudiantes sobre nutrición.
Además, incursionó en YouTube, donde publicó videos sobre peinados naturales bajo los nombres «Napp Queen» y «MercuryVenusMe». Al momento de su muerte tenía más de 21.000 seguidores.
Condecoración para garífuna que funge como agregado policial en Colombia
Pero en mayo alguien acabó con su vida, cuando los oficiales de policía llegaron a su apartamento encontraron una escena horrible. El cuerpo de Donahue estaba en posición fetal, cerca de una mesa de vidrio y tenía heridas punzantes en el cuello, el estómago, el bíceps derecho, el muslo derecho, la cadera y el omóplato, de acuerdo documentos judiciales.
El Festival internacional de cine garífuna e indígena honró a Donahue y con ello envió un mensaje a la sociedad.
Los panelistas del evento fueron Santiago Chamber, Gerente de Medio Ambiente de Atención en el Hospital y Centro Medico Regional Fountain Valley, el abogado y poeta Tyberry Wilkins, el abogado Troy Isaac, la abogada China Anderson y Sandrine Waite directora de la Organización WombMan Whole y filantrofa .
19 OCTUBRE 2020 | WA-DANI.COM
Freda Sideroff named “Belizean Star of the Month!” by
The Consulate of Belize in Florida Monthly Newsletter.
She is a wife, mother, grandmother, businesswoman, Producer, Director, filmmaker, writer and humanitarian who is currently a student at the University of South California (USC) for Creative Writing. Mrs. Sideroff is happily married to Dr. Stephen Sideroff, a distinguished Psychologist and professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA’s School of Medicine.
Since her stay in Los Angeles, Mrs. Sideroff has built and maintained a strong relationship with the Consulate of Belize in Los Angeles and its staff. She recently served as one of the sponsors and speakers at the September 10th Celebrations and continues to serve as the President and Founder of the critically acclaimed Garifuna International Film Festival in its 9th year. Freda Sideroff’s focus has been to enlighten, educate, and give voice to the Garifuna culture, paying homage by including indigenous cultures of all nations.
In 2012, the first year of the GIIFF, a proclamation was issued proclaiming May 26th “Garifuna Film Day” in the city of Los Angeles & State of California, signed by former Mayor Antonio Villaregosa and his council members. Congressional commendations have been issued from Congresswoman Janice Hahn and Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Thanks to the success that the festival has had, she was able to start the nonprofit 501c3 Garifuna International Indigenous Film Festival this year.
Mrs. Sideroff enjoys travelling back home at least three times a year where she often has brought the Garifuna Film Festival to southern places in Belize such as Seine Bight, St. Vincent Greiggs, and Punta Gorda. During her visits to Belize, she also documents, films and very soon, in 2020, she will publish her own documentary featuring Garifuna and Spirituality.
Mrs. Freda is also the Director and Producer, along with his husband, of the documentary titled “Blessed by Blood” and of the Harrington Trapp’s soon-to-be released Christmas CD. She is currently in the process of writing her first book of poetry and invites the community to submit their art, films and documentaries to the 9th annual GIIFF.
Besides being interviewed in several occasions such as in Voice of America and Channel 5 TV, Mrs. Freda is a producer of Ambassador of Music Awards and an advocate for Mental Health Awareness. She has two great children, Eulogia and Akil Goree and two stepchildren, Desiree Sideroff Michels and Alexandra Sideroff. Thanks to individuals like Mrs. Freda Sideroff, the knowledge of Belize’s richness in culture and diversity has been able to be promoted and spread in the US and the world.