After some extensive re-editing at the end of 2012 Aluna got off to a great start in 2013 with sold out festival showings at both Helsinki Docpoint and Tallinn Docpoint. Alan Ereira the Director then took the film up north to the home of the Sami people in Finnish Lapland where the first film made by the Kogi ‘From the Heart of the World’ had been so warmly received over 20 years ago. Even in a community which has since become very much part of the 21st century Aluna chimed with their indigenous roots and was very much at home in the land of the Northern Lights, although as a feature length movie it was deemed too long for the Snow theatre carved out of the ice!

In the spring Aluna was shown in Costa Rica and then back to the UK for a private showing at Hawkwood Seed Festival in July which was closely followed by the Palic Film Festival in Serbia.

The film started an association with the global initiative called Eradicating Ecocide. Ecocide is defined as ‘extensive damage to, destruction of or loss of ecosystem(s) of a given territory, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been or will be severely diminished’. The aim of the initiative is to establish Ecocide as an international crime so that it can be ended altogether by 2020 and Aluna supporters have been invited to add their names to the Wish20 petition on http://eradicatingecocide.com/.

In September Aluna made a big impact at the Science Festival up in one of the most northerly locations in Britain– the Isle of Orkney. The Director Alan Ereira was given the honour of opening the whole Festival and Professor Alex Rogers one of the Scientists who appears in the film spoke about the state of the oceans and attended the Q & A.

The official UK premiere of Aluna took place in London a fortnight later at the Raindance Film Festival when the Apollo cinema in London’s West End opened its doors to the general public but all the tickets were sold out at least a week before the festival had even started! This was a venue the whole production team was able to attend and even the Colombian Composer Alejandro Ramirez Rojas flew over from Bogota. Aluna was officially nominated for an award in the Documentary Feature category reaching the final five.

In October Aluna was shown at the Spirit Festival in Tel Aviv and again at the Native Spirit Festival which took place at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies. During this period Content Media came on board and both Joanna Lumley and Jane Goodall expressed enthusiastic support for the film.

Aluna’s final screening of 2013 was in December on the west coast of Ireland where the beautiful Blasket Centre on the Dingle Peninsula was the venue for a sell-out hosted by the Irish department of the Environment. This is all good news for 2014 which we hope will be the year when Aluna will be available for all!

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