2005 Native American Film Festival

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Contact Nickelodeon Theatre (803)254-8234

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BellSouth

NATIVE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL

November 1 – 6, 2005

Six days of films + videos by and about

Native Americans and international Native Peoples

Organized by the

Eastern Cherokee, Southern Iroquois and United Tribes of South Carolina

And the Nickelodeon Theatre of the Columbia Film Society

All programs are at

Nickelodeon Theatre

937 Main Street

Columbia, South Carolina 29201

(803)254-8234

www.nickelodeon.org

Tickets: $6.50 general admission;

$5.50 seniors/students/active military;

$4.50 CFS Members and Tribal Cardholders.

Please look at Festival Schedule for selected FREE PROGRAMS!

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

Tuesday Nov 1 at 7:00 PM

(includes three films below)

Oil On Ice

Especially in light of recent events, this award-winning doc is a must-see for insights into energy policies, environment, and Native communities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The film examines oil extraction in an extreme and fragile environment, and its current and future impact on the Gwich'in Athabascan Indians and Inupiat Eskimos and the migratory wildlife on which they depend. Narrated by Peter Coyote.

2004, 57 min, USA

Goodnight, Irene

Three generations of Seminole meet in the waiting room of a Reservation hospital sharing some laughter, some history, and a common truth. Official Selection: 2005 Indianapolis International Film Festival, National Geographic All Roads Film Festival.

English and Seminole w/English subtitles.

13 min.

Steve Ma’i’i
A sweet and engaging documentary about local Hawaiian music legend Steve Ma'i'i, created by his son, Kaliko Palmeira. National Geographic All Roads Film Festival.

2004, 15 min.

Tuesday Nov 1 at 9:00 PM

(includes two films below)

The Shaman's Apprentice

For more than twenty years Dr. Mark Plotkin has searched the Amazon for plants that heal. He is an ethno botanist, a scientist who studies the relationship between indigenous people and plants. He set out on a mission to find a cure for diabetes, a disease that killed both of his grandmothers. The Shaman's Apprentice charts the story of Mark's discoveries, and looks at the astonishing ability of native people to manage their environment. “One of the most stunning rainforest films ever made.”

54 minutes, 2001

Red Road:

Towards the Techno-Tribal Tribe

Contemporary views of Native American philosophy, spirituality, and prophecy are explored in this documentary short. Medicine people, elders, and spokespersons discuss traditional values and ancient cosmology.

30 min.

Wednesday Nov 2 at 3:00 + 7:00 PM

(7:00 screening is followed by Panel Discussion!)

A Seat At The Table:

Struggling For American Indian Religious Freedom

In December of 1999, 7000 spiritual leaders and scholars from around the world converged on Cape Town, South Africa, to participate in the 3rd Parliament of The Worlds Religions. The ceremonial opening of the week long Parliament magnificently displays the rich variety of religious traditions from around the world including the performance of an Iroquois ancestral song by Grammy nominated singer Joanne Shenandoah (Oneida). Interspersing scenes from the international Parliament, including comments by Nelson Mandala, Kofi Annan, and the Dahlai Lama, the film travels to Native American sacred sites and interviews American Indian leaders of several tribes – Pawnee, Anishinabe, Dine, Lakota, Mohawk, Onondega, and Crow Creek Sioux.

Professor Huston Smith, reknowned contemporary authority on world religions, who conducts many of the film interviews, summerizes: “The legacy of colonialism is that the present nations of the world contain indigenous populations that were residing in those countries. Three hundred fifty million people, which are six percent of our whole humanity, are nations within nations in these seventy-two countries. And their fate, I think, is the paramount religious question as we go into this next millenium – will the unique religions of these indigenous people survive?”

http://www.kifaru.com/aseatatthetable.html

91 min.

Wednesday Nov 2 at 9:30 PM

(free screening!)

Red Road:

Towards the Techno-Tribal Tribe

(see Tuesday film description), 30 min.

Thursday Nov 3 at 7:00 PM

(includes two films below)

Trudell

“The FBI has a 17,000 page dossier on John Trudell, one of the longest in the agency’s history.” Over a 12-year period, filmmaker Heather Rae (Cherokee) chronicles Trudell’s travels, spoken words, and politics. Poet, musician, orator, actor, and activist, John Trudell was a leader of the American Indian Movement, and, more recently, one of rock-and-roll's most distinctive talents. Rae skillfully weaves together archival footage, impressionistic scenes, a deeply affecting soundtrack, and interviews with Kris Kristofferson, Robert Redford, Jackson Browne, and Gary Farmer, who calls Trudell “our Socrates.” 2005 Sundance Film Fest, 2005 SilverDocs Film Fest.

2005, 80 min.

Steve Ma’i’i

(see Tuesday film description), 15 min.

Thursday Nov 3 at 9:00 PM

(includes three films below)

The Native Word: Stories Past and Present

Travel to Wisconsin to see historic Oneida journals from the 1930s, to Oklahoma for the oldest running American Indian radio program, and go around the world with musician/poet Joy Harjo.

2005, 27 min.

Goodnight, Irene

(see Tuesday film description), 13 min.

Yellow Wooden Ring

This humorous dramatic student short was featured in the 1998 Sundance Film Fest that also included Smoke Signals and Pi. A mother returns to live with her parents, bringing her bi-cultural teenage daughter, who discovers her tribal identity. Official selection, Boston Film Fest, NextFrame. Some teenage drug use and language.

1997. 30 min.

Friday Nov 4 at 7:00 PM

The Tracker

Embracing international Native Peoples, the NAFF treks to Australia with this epic drama about an Aborigine who is being hunted as a murder suspect. Set in the Outback in 1922, the story follows a mysterious Tracker and three mounted policemen as they pursue The Fugitive deeper into the bush and are challenged by the indigenous people they come across. The film stars David Gulpilil (Walkabout, Rabbit-Proof Fence) as The Tracker; soundtrack includes music performed by Aboriginal singer Archie Roach. Winner – Best Film, Best Lead Actor, Best Music Score – Australian Film Critics Circle; Official Selection: Venice Film Fest.

Australia, 2002, 89 min.

Friday Nov 4 at 9:00 PM

(free screening!)

A Thousand Roads

Premiering at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, this film was commissioned as the signature film for the new National Museum of the American Indian. Directed by Chris Eyre (SMOKE SIGNALS, SKINS, SKINWALKERS), A Thousand Roads tells fictional short stories about four contemporary Native characters – a Mohawk stockbroker “hunting” in the steel and glass canyons of Manhattan, a young Inupiat girl sent to her mother’s relatives in Alaska by her mother who has been called into active military duty; a Navajo gang member tending sheep in the mesas of New Mexico, and a Quechuan healer travelling across the Sacred Valley of the Incas in an attempt to save a sick child.

43 min, 2004

Saturday Nov 5 at 11:00 AM – FREE FESTIVAL FAMILY DAY!

(free screening – includes three films below!)

Raven Tales

This wonderful 3-D animation enjoyable for children and adults is based on the Trickster myths of the Northwest Coast peoples – the Kwakwaka wakw, the Squamish and Haida – and is the first animated film to be done by an all Canadian aboriginal team. The characters look like those found in Northwest Coast wood carvings, and the funny and engaging stories echo from antiquity.

Canada, 2004, 25 min.

Grandfather Sky

This award-winning contemporary drama tells the story of Charlie Lone Wolf, a troubled urban Navajo/Lakota youth whose journey from Denver to the home of his sheepherder uncle on the Navajo reservation launches him on a voyage of discovery. Scenes of present-day Navajo life are woven together with traditional ceremonies and stories to create a compelling portrait of the Navajo Way and of one young man's search for identity. Best Dramatic Short, 1996 First Native Americas Film Festival. “This poignant search for identity can help other alienated teenagers along the path to discovery.” – Booklist.

60 min.

Kinaalda

The Kinaalda ceremony is an intricate four-day event performed to guide a young girls’ ascent to womanhood. In this unique documentary, Navajo filmmaker Lena Carr journeys back to her own childhood by chronicling her 13-year old niece’s initiation into womanhood. “A compelling work from beginning to end.” - Elaine Charnov, Margaret Mead Film Fest. Recommended for grade 6 and up, the film is part of the WMM Girls’ Project featuring films geared toward young audiences.

2000. Subtitled. 56 min.

Saturday Nov 5 at 3:00 PM

Pulling Together

The annual tribal canoe journey is a growing phenomenon whereby dozens of tribes from the Pacifica Northwest travel in traditional ocean-going cedar canoes, coming together tribe by tribe. In 2003, Emmy Award winning filmmaker James M. Fortier was invited to document the two-week voyage of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe as they journey through the powerful and beautiful Puget Sound waters of Northwestern Washington state traveled by their migrating ancestors centuries before. Beyond the film’s exciting action and intense pace, the celebration of the rebirth of cultural traditions and heritage within the new generation of Pacific Northwestern canoe “families” ignites this film.

2004, 90 min.