Post by Okwes on Jul 21, 2006 10:36:20 GMT -5
The passion of Nathan Young
Profile on Pawnee filmmaker/educator from Oklahoma
Dawn Karima Pettigrew 7/20/2006
www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?actionfiltered=displayarticle&artic\
le_id=8019
<http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8\
019>
�"I absolutely love my job and feel like I'm one of the luckiest
people in the world,�" said Pawnee filmmaker Nathan Young IV, during
a recent interview. �"But honestly, and I know this may sound
cheesy, I've always wanted to serve my culture and it seems that this is
the best way for me to try and do that.�"
Young, a member of the Pawnee nation, began his filmmaking career while
teaching at Fort Gibson Public Schools in Oklahoma.
While emphasizing cultural studies and bilingual education in Native
American languages, Young encountered Joe Erb, who taught him the
techniques needed to create stop-motion claymation movies.
�"I had the opportunity to work on The Messenger to learn animation
and I was lucky that Fort Gibson was so supportive in giving me the
resources and freedom to learn,�" recalls Young.
Young, whose passion for Native American languages led him to pursue the
study of Creek, Cherokee, and Choctaw during his studies at University
of Oklahoma, viewed claymation films as an opportunity to educate and to
inspire. As part of the bilingual education program at Fort Gibson,
Young�'s students created short films, using the stop-motion
claymation technique. These films shared traditional Cherokee stories,
performed in Cherokee (with English subtitles) by the students, who
ranged in age from middle to high school level.
Native American educators consider each of these films a vital part of
bilingual education. In addition to invigorating interest in the use of
traditional languages, these films have generated interest in filmmaking
and drama among the members of a rising generation of Native Americans.
From Cane Flute—which shares the origins of the traditional
Cherokee flute to the widely shown and acclaimed First Fire—with
its depiction of the origins of flames and warmth, Young�'s films
appear in film festivals and classrooms throughout Indian Country.
While the Fort Gibson projects inspired Young to pursue fulltime
filmmaking, he has since turned to other forms of film and video to
chronicle the lives and events of Native Americans. Young is eager to
present Native people as they are in modernity, and finds that the
documentary form allows him to do that, using time-based media.
�"I'm producing a concert/document hybrid of a performance of the
Culture Shock crew next week,�" he said. �"Right now I'm
finishing a documentary for the National Indian Women's Health Resource
Center. It's called Creating Space: Culture and History in Indian Health
Care.�"
According to Young, �"It's a case study of the practices and
policies of six tribally run health care authorities, their processes in
making sure that their health care providers are culturally sensitive.
I'm just about to lock picture on it.�"
As Young finishes work on these two documentaries, he is delighted by an
opportunity to collaborate on a film with Sterlin Harjo, a Creek
filmmaker noted for his disturbing depiction of Indian Health Services,
entitled Good Night, Irene.
�"I'm collaborating with a really talented writer/director named
Sterlin Harjo on a true story about a guy who I grew up with that was
murdered,�" Young said. �"The working title is Heavy Metal
Indians.�"
The filmmaker says, �"I'm also working on a short film with a really
great director of photography called Kitstahutux. A kitstahutux is the
Pawnee word for boogy man…originally a kitstahutux was a scalped
person, that's actually what the word means, but now the word means
someone or something scary.�"
Young, discussing his new projects, reflects, �"One thing though, I
think I need to say that both of these stories havea lot of dark subject
matter at their core.�" When asked to explain, he says,
�"Drugs/alcohol/violence play prominent roles in these stories. I
don't know, that's something that I'm kind of grappling with...but
honestly, most Indian realities are dark, Indian Country is full of
racism, pessimism, violence, drugs and all of the other societal
ills.�"
For Young, finding a balance between truth and fiction is a key
component of his work. As he deals with the �"dark�" issues he
views in Indian Country, he feels that continuing his work with more
positive aspects of his identity is important.
�"I'm also working on a Pawnee language animation,�" he said.
�"I'm Pawnee/Kiowa/Delaware, and my Pawnee project is part one of a
HAKO series that is called Kits-pa-rux-ti: The Wonderful River.�"
Young is eagerly anticipating the development of this series as a
celebration of Pawnee culture.
�"It's the story of the origin of the Pawnee Medicine
Societies,�" the filmmaker said. �"It's not going to be a
claymation, more like cell animation, actually drawn by frame. I'm just
getting the language together now so that I can start animating.�"
About the author: Dawn Karima Pettigrew (Creek) is the
writer-in-residence at Western Carolina University, where she teaches
Native American Literature and Creative Writing. She has two published
books -�"The Way We Make Sense�" and �"Children Learn What
They Read�"- to her credit.
Profile on Pawnee filmmaker/educator from Oklahoma
Dawn Karima Pettigrew 7/20/2006
www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?actionfiltered=displayarticle&artic\
le_id=8019
<http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8\
019>
�"I absolutely love my job and feel like I'm one of the luckiest
people in the world,�" said Pawnee filmmaker Nathan Young IV, during
a recent interview. �"But honestly, and I know this may sound
cheesy, I've always wanted to serve my culture and it seems that this is
the best way for me to try and do that.�"
Young, a member of the Pawnee nation, began his filmmaking career while
teaching at Fort Gibson Public Schools in Oklahoma.
While emphasizing cultural studies and bilingual education in Native
American languages, Young encountered Joe Erb, who taught him the
techniques needed to create stop-motion claymation movies.
�"I had the opportunity to work on The Messenger to learn animation
and I was lucky that Fort Gibson was so supportive in giving me the
resources and freedom to learn,�" recalls Young.
Young, whose passion for Native American languages led him to pursue the
study of Creek, Cherokee, and Choctaw during his studies at University
of Oklahoma, viewed claymation films as an opportunity to educate and to
inspire. As part of the bilingual education program at Fort Gibson,
Young�'s students created short films, using the stop-motion
claymation technique. These films shared traditional Cherokee stories,
performed in Cherokee (with English subtitles) by the students, who
ranged in age from middle to high school level.
Native American educators consider each of these films a vital part of
bilingual education. In addition to invigorating interest in the use of
traditional languages, these films have generated interest in filmmaking
and drama among the members of a rising generation of Native Americans.
From Cane Flute—which shares the origins of the traditional
Cherokee flute to the widely shown and acclaimed First Fire—with
its depiction of the origins of flames and warmth, Young�'s films
appear in film festivals and classrooms throughout Indian Country.
While the Fort Gibson projects inspired Young to pursue fulltime
filmmaking, he has since turned to other forms of film and video to
chronicle the lives and events of Native Americans. Young is eager to
present Native people as they are in modernity, and finds that the
documentary form allows him to do that, using time-based media.
�"I'm producing a concert/document hybrid of a performance of the
Culture Shock crew next week,�" he said. �"Right now I'm
finishing a documentary for the National Indian Women's Health Resource
Center. It's called Creating Space: Culture and History in Indian Health
Care.�"
According to Young, �"It's a case study of the practices and
policies of six tribally run health care authorities, their processes in
making sure that their health care providers are culturally sensitive.
I'm just about to lock picture on it.�"
As Young finishes work on these two documentaries, he is delighted by an
opportunity to collaborate on a film with Sterlin Harjo, a Creek
filmmaker noted for his disturbing depiction of Indian Health Services,
entitled Good Night, Irene.
�"I'm collaborating with a really talented writer/director named
Sterlin Harjo on a true story about a guy who I grew up with that was
murdered,�" Young said. �"The working title is Heavy Metal
Indians.�"
The filmmaker says, �"I'm also working on a short film with a really
great director of photography called Kitstahutux. A kitstahutux is the
Pawnee word for boogy man…originally a kitstahutux was a scalped
person, that's actually what the word means, but now the word means
someone or something scary.�"
Young, discussing his new projects, reflects, �"One thing though, I
think I need to say that both of these stories havea lot of dark subject
matter at their core.�" When asked to explain, he says,
�"Drugs/alcohol/violence play prominent roles in these stories. I
don't know, that's something that I'm kind of grappling with...but
honestly, most Indian realities are dark, Indian Country is full of
racism, pessimism, violence, drugs and all of the other societal
ills.�"
For Young, finding a balance between truth and fiction is a key
component of his work. As he deals with the �"dark�" issues he
views in Indian Country, he feels that continuing his work with more
positive aspects of his identity is important.
�"I'm also working on a Pawnee language animation,�" he said.
�"I'm Pawnee/Kiowa/Delaware, and my Pawnee project is part one of a
HAKO series that is called Kits-pa-rux-ti: The Wonderful River.�"
Young is eagerly anticipating the development of this series as a
celebration of Pawnee culture.
�"It's the story of the origin of the Pawnee Medicine
Societies,�" the filmmaker said. �"It's not going to be a
claymation, more like cell animation, actually drawn by frame. I'm just
getting the language together now so that I can start animating.�"
About the author: Dawn Karima Pettigrew (Creek) is the
writer-in-residence at Western Carolina University, where she teaches
Native American Literature and Creative Writing. She has two published
books -�"The Way We Make Sense�" and �"Children Learn What
They Read�"- to her credit.