On May 17, the Fim Screening and meeting with film director of ’How Venezuela Moved a Mountain’ was successfully held in Gwangju, “Republic of Korea (ROK).” The event drew significant attention from Gwangju citizens and progressive activists who had gathered to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising.
The screening was co-hosted by the World Anti-Imperialist Platform and the Youth Platform.
How Venezuela Moved a Mountain is a documentary film that vividly portrays Venezuela’s current situation and the workings of its communal system (comunas).
The film follows activists and their comrades—fishermen and farmers cultivating coffee, sugarcane, and cocoa—across Venezuela, from the Andes to the central coastal regions, Miranda, Lara, and Cumanacoa. Together with Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), they strive to realize Hugo Chávez’s vision of communal socialism. The film also highlights the pivotal role of women in the movement.
The “commune” featured in the film is a grassroots democratic governance unit that sustains Venezuela’s popular power. Though not formally part of the central administrative system, comunas act as consultative bodies for national policy and operate through various committees that oversee elections, organization, finance, healthcare, food, housing, sports, public services, and defense. The Venezuelan government reviews policies proposed by the comunal councils and provides political and economic support for their implementation.
A GV (audience Q&A session) was held with Isabel Di Carlo Quero, Chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of Venezuela in the ‘ROK’, and Thierry Deronne, a Belgian-Venezuelan filmmaker and researcher.
Chargé d’affaires Isabel began by showing the audience magazines that emphasized the need to protect the Essequibo region and highlighted the illegal sanctions imposed on Venezuela, explaining the country’s current challenges.
Audience members asked questions such as:
- “What is the share of agriculture in Venezuela’s economy?”
- “In a country like the “ROK”, where agriculture plays a smaller role, would free land redistribution be supported by the people?”
- “Could industrial capital also be expropriated and redistributed freely in the same way?”
Isabel responded by suggesting, “Rather than focusing solely on land expropriation, it may be better to start by asking what can truly meet the most essential needs of the people.” She added, “We all yearn to live with dignity, peace, and joy, so we should think from that perspective.”
She went on to introduce the 1999 Law enacted under Chávez, which laid the foundation for participatory democracy by enshrining people’s rights across political, social, economic, labor, health, and environmental domains in the Venezuelan Constitution.
“Despite obstacles from oligarchs and capital, we overcame them through internal solidarity,” she said, adding, “Living in a comuna is like living in one big family.”
Director Thierry Deronne expressed gratitude for the audience’s engagement and emphasized the need to “train ourselves to raise our voices and build movements.” He took questions from the audience.
Thierry, who gained experience in people’s media production during the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua (1986–88), has lived in Venezuela since 1994. He established the People’s Latin American Film School and two local television stations. Since 2004, he has served as Vice President of Vive TV, a participatory public television channel, focusing on social movement collaboration and education. A contributor to Le Monde Diplomatique and L’Humanité, he received Venezuela’s Aquiles Nazoa National Journalism Award.
To the question of Venezuela’s current situation and Maduro’s support base, Thierry responded, “Venezuela, rich in oil reserves, is one of the few countries capable of sustaining itself even without oil production. It uses its natural resources to support neighboring countries and builds solidarity across the Global South through initiatives like Petrocaribe.”
He added, “The revolution is still ongoing in Venezuela even in 2025. Maduro is upholding people’s power, and the right-wing’s traditional media strategies are losing ground. Right-wing parties gradually losing their place.”
On the second question (how comunas responded during U.S.-backed coup attempts against the Chávez and Maduro administrations), he said, “Chávez once said, ‘Commune or Nothing!.’ Though the revolution’s momentum was hindered by imperialist sanctions, Maduro is reversing the tide. Over the past four years, Venezuela has seen its highest economic growth rates. Commune are becoming sources of both political and economic power.”
The event concluded with enthusiastic applause. Commemorating the 45th anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising, this meaningful screening will also tour other cities including Yanggu (Gangwon-do), Incheon, Jeonju, Gongju (Chungcheongnam-do), and Seoul.
