Film festival showcases Native American history and art
For the 13th year, the Sapaatk’ayn Cinema Native American Film Festival will take over the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre.
The festival will span two days and show a wide variety of Native American produced films that give insight into what modern day Native Americans face, as well as some of their historical beliefs and stories.
Jan Johnson, clinical assistant professor of English and American Indian Studies at the University of Idaho, said the film festival is important because it gives students a window into a world that isn’t often seen.
“The mainstream population rarely gets a chance to learn and hear what contemporary native people are concerned with, their art and stories that they tell,” Johnson said. “University of Idaho sits on Native American ancestral lands, and it’s important to be educated about the situation and concerns about Native Americans today, and about their artwork and creativity.”
The Friday festival will open with Vandal Nation, a UI drum group comprised of Native American students. Johnson said the group will play traditional music and a Blackfeet elder will also give a blessing with the audience.
[box border=”full”]The film festival begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre. It will run through Saturday.[/box]
Two documentaries will be shown Friday, “Spirit in Glass: Plateau Native Beadwork” and “LaDonna Harris: Indian 101.” The first documentary documents the work of Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Yakama artists and focuses on the artists’ perspectives of their work. The second documentary shows the work of LaDonna Harris, a Comanche activist in the 1960s who worked for civil rights for both Native Americans and women across the country.
From 1-9 p.m. Saturday, the festival begins again with a lineup of seven films. The films are a mix of short films and feature-length films. The films are also a mix of live action and animated traditional stories.
The first film, “The Orphan and the Polar Bear,” is nine minutes long and is a traditional Inuit story where a polar bear elder adopts an orphan boy and teaches him to survive on his own. Other films include “Raven Tales,” “We Shall Remain,” “Injunuity,” “Skin Stories: The Art and Culture of Polynesian Tattoo,” “Boy” and “Rhymes For Young Ghouls.”
The festival ends with “Rhymes For Young Ghouls,” which is currently the most popular Native American film, Johnson said. The film stars a 15-year-old female protagonist who deals drugs to stay out of school. The film does have adult content, Johnson said, including violence, drinking and drug use.
New this year to the festival are activities for children and youth, beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Admission is free, but UI’s Native American Student Center will sell fry bread and raffle tickets, and proceeds will go toward the center’s next powwow, Johnson said.
Johnson encourages students to attend, because she believes it’s imperative to learn about Native American culture, although she admits the festival is just a fun activity.
“It’s a really fun time,” Johnson said. “It’s an opportunity to know your neighbors that can seem invisible to us.”
Kelsey Stevenson can be reached at [email protected]