CCTV Center for Media and Democracy - www.cctv.org and VICII Vermont Institute of Community and International Involvement - www.vicii.org will screen the documentary film "Women Builders and the Earthen Architectural Heritage of Central and West Africa: Practical Case in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Niger" followed by a discussion with architect/filmmaker Amélie Esséssé. 

The film will take you to three countries to meet three different groups of people, in which the women sometimes practice the same skills, mostly without knowing of each other. Usually, the women organize the tasks within a building site, or to renovate an earthen construction. The different phases of the earthen renovation were filmed and especially the work of the women builders on the exterior finishes and décor utilizing natural pigments. Each “knowledge expert” has a specialty. They are the main players and teach the younger people. This expertise is transmitted from generation to generation: it is an intergenerational building site.

The film’s goal is to bring attention to the preservation of local cultural earthen construction heritage as well as the spiritual aspect of this heritage.