Come Celebrate Talented Indigenous Filmmakers from across the globe over three days of remarkable storytelling! Join us at The Grand Cinema from 4PM to 9:30PM, November 7-8-9th, for a cinematic journey you don’t want to miss!
Films for each Day
TUESDAY (NOVEMBER 7):
4:30 pm: Theater 1
TITLE: IN THE LAND OF THE HEADHUNTERS
DIRECTOR: Edward Curtis & George Hunt (1914)
TIME: 65 mins - In 1911, photographer Edward S Curtis traveled to British Columbia and visited the Kwakwaka’wakw, an indigenous tribe belonging to the Pacific Northwest Coast. Hard up for cash and loaded with a year’s worth of footage, Curtis decided the best way to capture to life and ceremonies of the Kwakwaka’wakw was to make a feature length motion picture - one of the first of its kind.
Followed by:
TITLE: MORE THAN BOWS AND ARROWS
Filmmakers: Tim Martin & AJ Beeman (2023)
TIME: 15 min
4:30 pm: Theater 2
TITLE: SAMI BLOOD (Norway)
DIRECTOR: Amanda Kerndel (2016)
TIME: 110 min - Elle Maria, 14, is a reindeer-herding Sami girl. Exposed to the racism of the 1930's and race biology examinations at her boarding school she starts dreaming of another life. To achieve this other life she has to become someone else and break all ties with her family and culture.
4:30 pm: Theater 3
TITLE: CRAZYWISE
DIRECTOR: Philip Borges, Local Filmmaker (2012)
TIME: 82 minutes - What can we learn from those who have turned their psychological crisis into a positive transformative experience?CRAZYWISE follows two young Americans diagnosed with “mental illness.” Adam, 27, suffers devastating side effects from medications before embracing meditation in hopes of recovery. Ekhaya, 32, survives childhood molestation and several suicide attempts before spiritual training to become a traditional South African healer gives her suffering meaning and brings a deeper purpose to her life. CRAZYWISE adds a voice to the growing conversation that believes a psychological crisis can be an opportunity for growth and potentially transformational, not a disease with no cure.
7:00 pm: Theater 1
TITLE: EVER DEADLY (Canada)
BY: Chelsea McMullan and Tanya Tagaq (2022)
TIME: 90 mins - Throughout her ground-breaking career, Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq has always had an intimate relationship with the Nuna—the Land—a living, breathing organism present in her improvised performances. Hers is a voice that, according to the New York Times, “demands full attention, whether she’s whispering in her softest register or howling at the sky.” Ever Deadly weaves together intimate concert footage of Tagaq alongside moving personal reflections, stunning sequences filmed in Nunavut, and hand-drawn animation by Inuk artist Shuvinai Ashoona to seamlessly bridge history, landscapes, stories, and songs with pain, anger, and triumph—all through the expressions of one of the most innovative musical performers of our time.
7:00 pm: Theater 2
TITLE: HEALING HEART OF LUSHOOTSEED
DIRECTOR: Jill LaPointe (2023)
TIME: 40 minutes - Feeling heartbroken by the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, Vi Hilbert, an 83-year-old elder from the Upper Skagit Indian tribe in the Pacific Northwest, asked the spirit, "What can one person do to heal a sick world?" The Healing Heart of Lushootseed tells the extraordinary story of how a diminutive great-grandmother tenaciously gathered support from unlikely corners for her most ambitious project yet, to heal the heart of the world.
7:00 pm: Theater 3
TITLE: The Canoe Way
DIRECTOR: Mark Celletti
Discussion Leader: Philip Red Eagle, Salish Canoe Carver, author and initiator of The Canoe Journey in 1989
WEDNESDAY (NOVEMBER 8):
4:30 pm: Theater 1
TITLE: House in the Fields (Morocco)
DIRECTOR: Tala Hadid (2017)
TIME: 86 minutes - A loving portrait of an Amazigh community high in the Atlas Mountains, with beautiful images of nature. Centered around two sisters, Fatima prepares to marry a man she hardly knows, while Khadija dreams of becoming a lawyer. This ambition is contrary to the traditional beliefs of this remote mountain village.
4:30 pm: Theater 2
TITLE: EVER DEADLY (Canada) [REPEAT]
BY: Chelsea McMullan and Tanya Tagaq (2022)
TIME: 90 mins - Throughout her ground-breaking career, Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq has always had an intimate relationship with the Nuna—the Land—a living, breathing organism present in her improvised performances. Hers is a voice that, according to the New York Times, “demands full attention, whether she’s whispering in her softest register or howling at the sky.” Ever Deadly weaves together intimate concert footage of Tagaq alongside moving personal reflections, stunning sequences filmed in Nunavut, and hand-drawn animation by Inuk artist Shuvinai Ashoona to seamlessly bridge history, landscapes, stories, and songs with pain, anger, and triumph—all through the expressions of one of the most innovative musical performers of our time.
4:30 pm: Theater 3
TITLE: WE SPEAK FOR THE FOREST (Skokomish)
DIRECTOR: Zephyr Elise (2023)
TIME: 66 mins - "We Speak for the Forests" is an inter-generational conversation with local Indigenous Skokomish tribal members and other community members in Mason County, WA. They speak of our forests' importance–culturally, environmentally, and beyond–in this grassroots struggle to mitigate climate chaos and ensure an abundant world for all.
7:00 pm: Theater 1
TITLE: Ainu Mosir (Japan)
DIRECTOR: Takeshi Fukunaga (2020)
TIME: 84 minutes - Ainu Mosir features a story about a young Ainu boy, Kanto. It deals with issues around the conflict between his personal thoughts, modern Japan, and the way of his traditional Ainu heritage. The movie was filmed on location in Hokkaido, Japan. The Ainu residents are bringing back a lost tradition called Iomante, a controversial ritual killing of a bear, which some of them agree with and others see as a practice that should be changed. Kanto finds videotapes of the Iomante rituals and watches them. He begins to discover more about his culture, including some of the more mystical elements, and eventually comes to appreciate some of the rituals.
7:00 pm: Theater 2
TITLE: SILENT NO MORE (USA Indigenous)
DIRECTOR: Erin Williams
TIME: 90 minutes - “Silent No More” is a documentary that seeks to expose the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous women in the United States. It was filmed and edited by a 19-year-old student at Duke University who spent the summer as an intern for White Bison, Inc. The film includes heart wrenching interviews with the family members of Native women who have either been murdered or are still missing.
THURSDAY (NOVEMBER 9):
4:30 pm: Theater 1
TITLE: The Last Taino (CUBA)
Presentation and Discussion: Led by Professor Marisel Fleites-Lear
TIME: 47 mins - Cuba’s Taino People: A flourishing culture, believed extinct. A commonly repeated belief says that Cuba’s Indigenous Taino people were extirpated shortly after the Spanish conquest in 1511. And yet, DNA evidence reveals that there at least 4,000 people remain in Cuba who are biologically more Taino than not. Committee Chair, Professor Marisel Fleites-Lear, will lead a discussion of the Taino.
5:30 pm: Theater 1
TITLE: We Speak for the Forest (Skokomish) [REPEAT]
DIRECTOR: Zephyr Elise (2023)
TIME: 66 mins - An inter-generational conversation (ages 16-70's) with local Skokomish tribal members and other community members of Mason County, WA. We speak of our forests' importance- culturally, environmentally, and beyond. Urgently we must act to preserve the last of our remaining healthy legacy forest ecosystem here in the Pacific Northwest to mitigate climate chaos and ensure an abundant, livable world for all.
7:00 pm: Theater 1
TITLE: IXCANUL (Guatemala)
DIRECTOR: Jayro Bustamante (2015)
TIME: 1 hour 33 mins - The film reveals the plight of many indigenous Guatemalans who suffer from unfathomable levels of exploitation. The actors are native speakers of Kaqchikel, one of many Mayan languages. IXCANUL is a painful reminder of the ease with which those who have power can prey on those who don’t. There is gorgeous photography in this film, especially of the volcano.
Discussion after: 20 minutes
7:30 pm: Theater 2
TITLE: Rumble: The Indians who Rocked the World (Canada)
DIRECTORS: Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana (2017)
TIME: 1 hour 43 mins - This revelatory Documentary brings to light the profound and overlooked influence of indigenous people on popular music in North America. Focusing on music icons like Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Taboo (The Black Eyed Peas), Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Jesse Ed Davis, Robbie Robertson and Randy Castillo, RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World shows how these pioneering Native American musicians helped shape the soundtracks of our lives.