“La Comunidad”, was shot in Tortuguero, on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. Presented in partnership with the Caribbean Conservation Corporation ICC0, Costa Rica Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) and La Comunidad Barra del Tortuguero, the film celebrates the community’s successes due to its conservation ethic. Formerly, after generations of unsustainable over-harvesting of nesting sea turtles (for their meat and eggs), the community faced dwindling prospects.

But under the initial guidance of Archie Carr and the CCC, the residents slowly changed their practices, and with the establishment of Tortuguero National Park, there began an influx of eco-tourists. Today the community is prospering. Numerous small hotels have been built, locally owned shops and restaurants are opening, the school is growing and campesinos looking for opportunity are immigrating to Tortuguero. The community is a conservation success story, and it is this fact that makes La Comunidad a potentially significant film, as CAVU takes it “on the road”, showing it up and down the Caribbean coast (from Honduras to Panama). It is CAVU’s hope that the film will resonate with other communities that are still struggling and may not have yet considered conservation of sea turtles and ecotourism as a viable economic solution.

Sponsors and Partners

• Caribbean Conservation Corporation ICC0
• Costa Rica Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE)
• La Comunidad Barra del Tortuguero