2010 Film Schedule

Wednesday, March 10

7:00 pm
·    Opening Night Tented Reception

8:00 pm
·    Sing Birds: Following the Path of Cahuilla Power (United States, Documentary)

Cahuilla Indians from the southern regions of California are in the midst of a transition that holds much promise. In the context of contemporary life, they face the challenge of preserving the cultural distinctions of their ancestral ways. Bird songs are the traditional social songs that speak of the origins of the Cahuilla and their travels in ancient times, and tell of the natural environment and its inhabitants. Loss of language, the erosion of customary ways, tensions around blood quantum, and the role of Bird Songs in shaping an optimistic future for the Cahuilla people are issues addressed in this powerful and important film.
Director: Sean Owen 

Thursday, March 11
5:00 pm
·    March Point (United States, Documentary)

Travis, Nick and Cody have been friends almost all their lives, growing up on the Swinomish Reservation in Washington State. When they find themselves in trouble at school with issues of substance abuse, the teens are offered a unique opportunity to participate in Native Lens, Longhouse Media's youth filmmaking program. They dream about doing a gangster film and rap videos, figuring it to be a better deal than spending afternoons in drug court. However, they agree, instead, to make a documentary about the environmental impact of two oil refineries on their tribal community and its traditional way of life. In this coming-of-age story, the boys discover themselves, their community, and the threats their people face. 
Directors: Cody Cayou (Swinomish), Nick Clark (Grand Ronde/Swinomish), Tracy Rector (Seminole), Annie Silverstein, and Travis Tom (Swinomish/Lummi)

·    Canoe Way: The Sacred Journey (United States, Documentary)

Pacific Northwest tribes from Alaska, Canada, Oregon and Washington reclaim their cultural heritage through annual canoe journeys following their ancestral waterways. Participants make their way through the waters of Puget Sound, the Inside Passage, and the northwestern coast – reconnecting with the past and each other. Canoe Way documents the resurgence of the cedar canoe societies and the renaissance of ancient songs, dances, regalia, ceremonies, and languages which were almost lost.
Director: Mark Celletti

7:00 pm
·    Tented Reception

8:00 pm
·    Jim Thorpe: The World’s Greatest Athlete (United States, Documentary)

Sports icon Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox) is the only Olympic athlete to participate in 17 events. In addition to winning gold medals in pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, he was the recipient of two challenge prizes donated by King Gustav V of Sweden for the decathlon and Czar Nicholas II of Russia for the pentathlon. He excelled in American football, baseball, and basketball and, as an American Indian, overcame racial inequalities of the day through the strength of his personal character. A Senate joint resolution authorized by President Richard Nixon proclaimed Monday, April 16, 1973 “Jim Thorpe Day” and the United States Congress in 1999 recognized Jim Thorpe as “the athlete of the 20th century.”
Director: Tom Weidlinger

Friday, March 12
5:00 pm
·    Kissed by Lightning (Canada, Feature)

Filmed on location in the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Canada, Kissed by Lightning is an uplifting story of Mavis Dogblood Lightning, a Mohawk artist who grieves the death of her husband and loses interest in painting. With the passing of time and the need to survive life’s day-to-day realities, Mavis rekindles her passion – finding peace of mind and heart.
Director: Shelley Niro (Mohawk)

7:00 pm
·    Tented Reception

8:00 pm
·    Burwa dii Ebo (The Wind and the Water) (Panama, Feature)

As Panama’s first narrative feature, this film is as much a tender affair between urban and traditional lifestyles as it is for its protagonists. Based on real stories from the production collective, The Wind and the Water is filmed across the autonomous indigenous archipelago of Kuna Yala and the underground world of Panama City. This is a tender story of two teenagers forced to ask questions about identity, youth, and culture in transition. Often referred to as “the people who would not kneel,” the Kuna are famous for their community-based decision-making processes, matrilineal tradition, and 500-year struggle to maintain cultural authority over the Caribbean archipelago which constitutes their land. The film offers an unprecedented glimpse at the inner stories of a village living on the edge.
In Kuna and Spanish with English subtitles
Directors: Vero Bollow & The Igar Yala Collective

Saturday, March 13
5:00 pm  - Series of Shorts
·    The Garden (Tsi tkahéhtayen) (Canada, Short)

A mystical gardener harvests fruits from the earth that far exceed everybody’s expectations.
In Mohawk with English Subtitles
Director: Zoe Leigh Hopkins (Heiltsulk/Mohawk)

·    The Wind Whispers There Is Someone Behind the Tundra (Norway, Short)

Inspired by the work of Sami poet Synnøve Persen, dancers travel through time and space enjoying the wonders that surround them. They find different objects that connect them to their Sami ancestors.
Directosr: Elle Sofe Henriksen (Sami) & Ken Are Bongo (Sami)

·    The Cave (?E?anx) (Canada, Short)

A hunter on horseback accidentally discovers a portal to the spirit world. The first-ever indigenous science fiction film is a fantastical and powerful rendering of a true Tsilhqot’in story.
In Tsilhqot’in (Chilcotin) with English subtitles
Director: Helen Haig-Brown (Tsilhqot’in)

·    Prevention of Repeated Crimes (Russia, Short)

Based on an event that took place in the USSR in 1946, a tribe of nomadic Komi reindeer herders is paid a visit by a young Soviet officer. He warns of escapees from a nearby Gulag concentration camp and provides instructions on what to do if there is a sighting. Complications arise when his instructions are carried out to the letter.
In Russian with English subtitles
Director: Philipp Abryutin (Chukchi)

·    Shimásáni (United States, Short)

In Dinétah (Navajo homeland), 1934, Mary Jane is torn between her sense of duty and her thirst for knowledge. She tends the flock and takes care of her grandmother while her older sister is away at school. Mary Jane’s wish is to trade places with her sister and learn about faraway lands.
In Navajo with English subtitles
Director: Blackhorse Lowe (Navajo)

7:00 pm
·    Tented Reception

8:00 pm
·    Barking Water (United States, Feature)

Frank, now in his 50s, is dying of cancer. Accompanied by his one-time lover, Irene, they leave the hospital to embark on a journey of reconciliation across Oklahoma to make amends with his children who are now grown. This touching final journey of his life is filled with memories and mutual expressions of love and redemption.
Director: Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Creek)

Sunday, March 14
5:00 pm
·    Imprint (United States, Feature)

A prominent Native American attorney, who has turned away from her people, successfully prosecutes a young boy from her childhood home on the Pine Ridge Reservation. After the teen is executed, she returns to the reservation to be with her dying father, and rediscovers her sense of place.
Director: Michael Linn

7:00 pm
·    Tented Reception

8:00 pm
·    Reel Injun (Canada, Documentary)

Reel Injun offers an entertaining and insightful look at Hollywood’s portrayal of Native people and their culture, from the era of silent movies to the present. More than a lesson in history, the film explores the image of Native people in cinema and how it has influenced the understanding – and misunderstanding – of their culture and history.
Director: Neil Diamond (Cree)