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Director's Statement
When I was 12 years old I declared I wanted to "Save the World." Since that time I have been searching for a path. First I focused on The Red Cross  in my small rural town of Prescott, Arizona, USA. Then I entered college, studied politics, practiced politics and received a BA in Political Science. But Watergate and Vietnam dashed my hopes in the morality of the political world so I fled to Europe.
Once in Europe, I discovered art. Throughout the ages art stood out as the one endeavor that humans could perform with integrity. It seemed to me that artists had been able to make their statements without propagating immorality or brutal behavior. I decided that only art could "Save the World" and therefore I would dedicate myself again to my own country, the USA, and the path of artistic truths.
I returned to the US, enrolled in graduate school, and received my M.A. and Ph.D. in Literature. My dissertation focused on literature of colonization, of the oppressed and the oppressor. I wrote articles, poetry and short stories focusing on human rights and art.
In 1980 I wrote and directed my first 16mm film, and by 1984 I began teaching Motion Picture Production at Scottsdale Community College. In the next ten years I wrote and produced many short films focusing at that time on women's rights.
In 1995 I met Claudia Bernardi. Here was a woman who embodied my hope in the power of art. She had dedicated her life to fighting for human rights, justice, and truth through her art. Claudia not only became the subject of my film, but my mentor in discovering what she calls "layers of truth."
Throughout the process of making Artist of Resistance, Claudia introduced me to many great Latin American literary works including I Rigoberta Menchu, the poetry of Eduardo Galeano, Jon Lee Anderson's Che, Tina Rosenberg's Children of Cain, and The Report of the Argentine National Commission on the Disappeared Nunca Mas.
In 2000, 2001, and 2002 I had the privilege of filming Claudia Bernardi and The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team in El Salvador. There I learned to love the people of El Salvador and truly understand Claudia's stand that we combat the "Public History" of the media through the "Private History" of art.
This experience has changed my life; it has clarified my path. In response to the effects of colonization, victimization and globalization world wide, I have developed a documentary class in the US called "Lights, Camera, Activism: Documentaries for Social Change."
-Penelope Price 1/15/05
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