Post by Okwes on Feb 28, 2007 11:38:22 GMT -5
This is Velma Craig's Review of Native American Film & Video Festival
in New York City...
Check out Velma's Myspace page: www.myspace.com/jinkeeze
mhd:)
----------------------------------------------------------
This is a list of every single film I got to see at the Native
American Film and Video Festival held in New York City. There was at
least a hundred more, but I couldn't get around to them all.
THE JOURNALS OF KNUD RASMUSSEN by Zacharias Kunuk & Norman Cohn
MARANGMOTXINGO MIRANG/FROM THE IKPENG CHILDREN TO THE WORLD by Mari
Correa & Kumare Txicao
MY FIRST CONTACT by Mari Correa & Kumare Txicao
POPUL VUH: THE QUICHE MAYA CREATION MYTH by Ana Maria Pavez
TAINA-KAN, THE BIG STAR by Adriana Figueiredo
WHY SAVE A LANGUAGE? by Sally Thompson
FEMALE RAIN by Velma Kee Craig (who's that?)
RADIO NOMNDAA: THE WORD OF WATER by Rodrigo Cruz
GOODNIGHT IRENE by Sterlin Harjo
SHARE THE WEALTH by Bennie Klain
RADIO CHANUL POM, FROM THE HEART OF THE HIGHLANDS OF CHIAPAS by Jose
Alfredo Jimenez
HAVASUPAI by Dustinn Craig
DULCE CONVIVENCIA/SWEET GATHERING by Filoteo Gomez
CONVERSION by Nanobah Becker
5TH WORLD by Larry Lowe
THE SNOWBOWL EFFECT by Klee Benally
NATCHILIAGNIAQTUGUK AAPAGULU/SEAL HUNTING WITH DAD by Andrew Okpeaha
Maclean
DIET OF SOULS by John Houston
It really is a shame that most people will never get to see this work.
As always, it was all very informative, eye-opening, and inspirational.
I have to say I did a wonderful job at choosing the films I went to
see. I realize that now, as I try to pick only a few to go into more
detail about. I want to write about them all!! Instead, I'll only go
briefly into a few, and then way more in-depth into a couple more.
For those few of you who might not know, Zacharias Kunuk is the person
who put out The Fast Runner, a couple years back. His new feature, The
Journals of Knud Rasmussen was an amazing film. I'm not going to say
any more than that. This is a filmmaker that I entirely respect.
Popul Vuh and Taina-Kan were both excellent animations. I can't wait
to see more of this type of stuff. Content for children is definitely
important, and especially content like this. Native people have, hands
down, the best stories, and it's past time our children get to see
just how amazingly rich our cultures are. How better to show that than
to give them our creation stories.
Popul Vuh, from the Mayan people, was designed to resemble the
hieroglyphics the stories originally came off of, just like the scene
in Disney's The Prince of Egypt, where Moses is reading about the past
event of the children being thrown over the cliff. Popul Vuh tells the
story of how the heroes--two brothers, now the Sun and the
Moon--played the ball game against the demons from the Underworld and
won. They won something great, I'm sure, though I can't remember what.
Taina-Kan is a story that comes to us from the Karaja Indians, and
tells the story of the origination of agriculture, and how it was a
gift from Taina-Kan, translated the "Big Star." This was done in
computer (3-D) animation, and was amazing!
Both, From the Ikpeng Children to the World and My First Contact, are
documentaries about the Ikpeng people, a name given them by their
colonizers. They call themselves the Txicao.
From the Ikpeng Children is a cute little film made by the children
(just like it says) to the children of other indigenous nations of the
world. It was a project taken on with the hope that other nations
would reply. In his presentation, the filmmaker noted that they have
yet to receive a video/film from another group of children. They have
received written letters and such from non-native children, but not an
actual video letter from Native children. How sad.
I would love to take on the challenge of helping native children
(perhaps my own?) put together a video response letter, but I first
need to get my hands on a copy of the original video letter, because I
think it is important that they actually see the content so that they
know what they are responding to.
My First Contact has now joined the list of my favorite documentaries.
I have heard and read news snippets of other indigenous peoples being
'discovered' recently, but I don't think I have ever thought about it
much further. This film was indeed eye-opening. The Ikpeng people of
Brazil had their 'first contact' experience with the outside world in
1964. These people can be likened, in my view, to the Apaches. They
were considered war-like, nomads, raiders, and abductors of children
and women of nearby tribes.
They had been reduced in number to under 100 members, due to the
uprising of those tribes that they had pissed off. Because of this,
they were forced to retreat and relocate. Then, an airplane flies by
and scares the monkey out of them. Over the span of probably a week or
so, this scenario repeats itself.
Vrooommmmm! The 'noisy bird' flies by. The frightened Ikpeng people
below scream and attempt to kill the noisy bird by shooting arrows
into the sky. Mothers and children hide in corners of homes and run
for cover beneath trees. People shake maracas and shout "Go away,
noisy bird!! Leave us alone!!" This scene is re-enacted, informally
and playfully, by those very same people (now aged half a century) who
were actually present when this first contact was made.
It's something else, huh? It is indeed something else. The inhabitants
of the plane, a couple of social scientists (I don't know what they
were...) by the name of Claudio and Orlando Villas Boas do finally
manage to land the plane and introduce themselves to the Ikpengs
before any of the members collapse from heart failure. The meeting was
a peaceful one.
Villas Boas persuades them not to continue with their raiding way of
life. For a while, things seem ideal. And then, true to form, gold
prospectors threaten the safety of the Ikpengs so they are persuaded
to remove themselves to a place where they will be guaranteed
protection--a reservation, already occupied by several of their rival
tribes. Now, the Ikpengs are fighting for their land back.
The reason I went into all that detail is because I was sincerely
floored by it all. This is an entirely new age. One of the people
involved in the production of the film is a leader of their people.
He's not an elder, but a young person--a warrior, if you will.
This man, Kumare Txicao, was chosen by the community, and placed in
this role of 'communicator' by his very own people!! Aside from the
choosing of the filmmaker, or spokesperson, there was a high level of
community involvement throughout the production of this film. They
have regular meetings, and decide what goes into the film and what
doesn't. They're highly aware and very truthful in the portrayal of
themselves. The obvious worry is that since they are all involved,
they might try to portray themselves as 'always having been good,' but
this is not the case. They owned up to their history. I think they
portrayed themselves realistically.
What would it be like to fight the battles we fought back then, today?
Well, our initial battles might have taken place back then, when we
were only armed with spears, arrows, guns and the miscalculation of
the Europeans' numbers; we couldn't seem to comprehend that there were
as many of them as there actually were. Through the advent of
technology, they don't have that issue.
Aside from that, I think, presently, we are on the same playing field
as the Txicao. We have more than they have technologically, as well as
financially. I think, though, that despite this they still have one up
on us. They have their traditional form of government still in place.
While watching them debate over strategy, elders and young people all
in the same room, not moving forward until they've reached a
consensus, all that I can think about is that it is not like any
council meeting, I know that... And, my God, my prayers are with them
in their struggle.
Believe it or not, I had never seen 5th World before!! Yes... I'm
Navajo. I do know what the storyline is, though, and since I love
spoiling movies, so will you. A Navajo girl and guy decide they're
going to hitchhike together from the city they live in to a town on
the rez (I forget which one). This trip is going to take them a couple
days. They 'hook up' somewhere along the way, and find out afterwards
that this is bad (Yiiiyaa') because they're from the *drum roll* SAME
CLAN!!! Oh, d**n... is that taboo?
5th World packed the d**er Pavillion and of this generously-sized
audience, I would estimate 30 people walked out, and they could've had
emergencies of some sort, for all I know. You know, the babysitter
accidentally fed the 6-month-old allergic to peanuts a Snickers bar,
or something. I might have finished the movie had I been able to find
justification for the use of the word 'black person' about 20 minutes into
the film.
The scene went something like this: James is driving the car. The
Navajo girl is sitting next to him. Ernie is on the passenger side.
The girl's hitchhiking buddy is in the backseat with a couple of other
drunk passengers. I believe he's sitting in the middle.
They're on the subjects of Native girls with flat butts... and I think
I took too long to write this blog, because it's all left me by now.
So, it's crass humor, which is fine. But, for some reason, even though
they seem to be having a good laugh, the girl (who isn't drunk)
decides she's gonna be all 'deep' and spout some completely
off-subject opinion of hers. And, what the hell did she say again??
Dammit, someone help me out.
She says, 'Blahbitty, blah, blah... Native girls... Hahahaha... go out
with some black person, or something.'
Huh?? Who says that? Last I heard, the word was zhinnii. I mean, what
was the reasoning behind employing the word black person except to push
buttons. I've seen plenty of movies employing 'inappropriate'
language, but if it's a good one, it will make you believe that the
character would actually be the type of character to say such a thing...
I sat through the entire eternity of the flop known as the Blair Witch
Project and, when it was finished, was completely sorry that I did.
After this, I vowed to not sit through another movie if it was
completely evident that it was not going to get any better. I think
all movies, should be gauged on the same criteria as any good or bad
major film, or I'm sorry, but Native filmmaking is not ever going to
be anything but Native filmmaking.
During the Q&A session, after the film, the girl standing next to me
commented, "I can't wait until I get a film finished, because I know
that I'm gonna be able to answer all the questions people ask me."
According to the filmmaker, Navajos getting into intimate
relationships with those of their same clan is becoming the norm.
"Those Christians," apparently, "just throw tradition out the window."
This explains why it's funny when an Indian man professes his lust for
white women and appalling when an Indian woman professes her interest
in black men.
I completely appreciate the time put into the script for Goodnight
Irene, because it was d**n solid. When a writer puts his being into
the development of a script and writes smartly, it's entirely evident.
Diet of Souls reminds us of the danger of taking for granted the lives
that are given so that we may continue to sustain ourselves. It starts
off with a quote that warns us of the always-present danger of the
souls of those animals that we consume retalliating against us, if we
should ever forget to remain humble. The Inupiat people's entire diet
consists of the souls of other beings is what it said. I've always
believed that animals and other live beings have souls, but I'm also
thankful to have been reminded by such a poetic film. I think, this is
the same film that had a piece of amazing archive footage of a seal
hunter sliding across the ice--patiently, slowly--mimicking the seal's
voice and clapping fin sound, until he was close enough to
successfully spear his kill.
Like I said, it's a shame that more people don't get out to see these
films.
in New York City...
Check out Velma's Myspace page: www.myspace.com/jinkeeze
mhd:)
----------------------------------------------------------
This is a list of every single film I got to see at the Native
American Film and Video Festival held in New York City. There was at
least a hundred more, but I couldn't get around to them all.
THE JOURNALS OF KNUD RASMUSSEN by Zacharias Kunuk & Norman Cohn
MARANGMOTXINGO MIRANG/FROM THE IKPENG CHILDREN TO THE WORLD by Mari
Correa & Kumare Txicao
MY FIRST CONTACT by Mari Correa & Kumare Txicao
POPUL VUH: THE QUICHE MAYA CREATION MYTH by Ana Maria Pavez
TAINA-KAN, THE BIG STAR by Adriana Figueiredo
WHY SAVE A LANGUAGE? by Sally Thompson
FEMALE RAIN by Velma Kee Craig (who's that?)
RADIO NOMNDAA: THE WORD OF WATER by Rodrigo Cruz
GOODNIGHT IRENE by Sterlin Harjo
SHARE THE WEALTH by Bennie Klain
RADIO CHANUL POM, FROM THE HEART OF THE HIGHLANDS OF CHIAPAS by Jose
Alfredo Jimenez
HAVASUPAI by Dustinn Craig
DULCE CONVIVENCIA/SWEET GATHERING by Filoteo Gomez
CONVERSION by Nanobah Becker
5TH WORLD by Larry Lowe
THE SNOWBOWL EFFECT by Klee Benally
NATCHILIAGNIAQTUGUK AAPAGULU/SEAL HUNTING WITH DAD by Andrew Okpeaha
Maclean
DIET OF SOULS by John Houston
It really is a shame that most people will never get to see this work.
As always, it was all very informative, eye-opening, and inspirational.
I have to say I did a wonderful job at choosing the films I went to
see. I realize that now, as I try to pick only a few to go into more
detail about. I want to write about them all!! Instead, I'll only go
briefly into a few, and then way more in-depth into a couple more.
For those few of you who might not know, Zacharias Kunuk is the person
who put out The Fast Runner, a couple years back. His new feature, The
Journals of Knud Rasmussen was an amazing film. I'm not going to say
any more than that. This is a filmmaker that I entirely respect.
Popul Vuh and Taina-Kan were both excellent animations. I can't wait
to see more of this type of stuff. Content for children is definitely
important, and especially content like this. Native people have, hands
down, the best stories, and it's past time our children get to see
just how amazingly rich our cultures are. How better to show that than
to give them our creation stories.
Popul Vuh, from the Mayan people, was designed to resemble the
hieroglyphics the stories originally came off of, just like the scene
in Disney's The Prince of Egypt, where Moses is reading about the past
event of the children being thrown over the cliff. Popul Vuh tells the
story of how the heroes--two brothers, now the Sun and the
Moon--played the ball game against the demons from the Underworld and
won. They won something great, I'm sure, though I can't remember what.
Taina-Kan is a story that comes to us from the Karaja Indians, and
tells the story of the origination of agriculture, and how it was a
gift from Taina-Kan, translated the "Big Star." This was done in
computer (3-D) animation, and was amazing!
Both, From the Ikpeng Children to the World and My First Contact, are
documentaries about the Ikpeng people, a name given them by their
colonizers. They call themselves the Txicao.
From the Ikpeng Children is a cute little film made by the children
(just like it says) to the children of other indigenous nations of the
world. It was a project taken on with the hope that other nations
would reply. In his presentation, the filmmaker noted that they have
yet to receive a video/film from another group of children. They have
received written letters and such from non-native children, but not an
actual video letter from Native children. How sad.
I would love to take on the challenge of helping native children
(perhaps my own?) put together a video response letter, but I first
need to get my hands on a copy of the original video letter, because I
think it is important that they actually see the content so that they
know what they are responding to.
My First Contact has now joined the list of my favorite documentaries.
I have heard and read news snippets of other indigenous peoples being
'discovered' recently, but I don't think I have ever thought about it
much further. This film was indeed eye-opening. The Ikpeng people of
Brazil had their 'first contact' experience with the outside world in
1964. These people can be likened, in my view, to the Apaches. They
were considered war-like, nomads, raiders, and abductors of children
and women of nearby tribes.
They had been reduced in number to under 100 members, due to the
uprising of those tribes that they had pissed off. Because of this,
they were forced to retreat and relocate. Then, an airplane flies by
and scares the monkey out of them. Over the span of probably a week or
so, this scenario repeats itself.
Vrooommmmm! The 'noisy bird' flies by. The frightened Ikpeng people
below scream and attempt to kill the noisy bird by shooting arrows
into the sky. Mothers and children hide in corners of homes and run
for cover beneath trees. People shake maracas and shout "Go away,
noisy bird!! Leave us alone!!" This scene is re-enacted, informally
and playfully, by those very same people (now aged half a century) who
were actually present when this first contact was made.
It's something else, huh? It is indeed something else. The inhabitants
of the plane, a couple of social scientists (I don't know what they
were...) by the name of Claudio and Orlando Villas Boas do finally
manage to land the plane and introduce themselves to the Ikpengs
before any of the members collapse from heart failure. The meeting was
a peaceful one.
Villas Boas persuades them not to continue with their raiding way of
life. For a while, things seem ideal. And then, true to form, gold
prospectors threaten the safety of the Ikpengs so they are persuaded
to remove themselves to a place where they will be guaranteed
protection--a reservation, already occupied by several of their rival
tribes. Now, the Ikpengs are fighting for their land back.
The reason I went into all that detail is because I was sincerely
floored by it all. This is an entirely new age. One of the people
involved in the production of the film is a leader of their people.
He's not an elder, but a young person--a warrior, if you will.
This man, Kumare Txicao, was chosen by the community, and placed in
this role of 'communicator' by his very own people!! Aside from the
choosing of the filmmaker, or spokesperson, there was a high level of
community involvement throughout the production of this film. They
have regular meetings, and decide what goes into the film and what
doesn't. They're highly aware and very truthful in the portrayal of
themselves. The obvious worry is that since they are all involved,
they might try to portray themselves as 'always having been good,' but
this is not the case. They owned up to their history. I think they
portrayed themselves realistically.
What would it be like to fight the battles we fought back then, today?
Well, our initial battles might have taken place back then, when we
were only armed with spears, arrows, guns and the miscalculation of
the Europeans' numbers; we couldn't seem to comprehend that there were
as many of them as there actually were. Through the advent of
technology, they don't have that issue.
Aside from that, I think, presently, we are on the same playing field
as the Txicao. We have more than they have technologically, as well as
financially. I think, though, that despite this they still have one up
on us. They have their traditional form of government still in place.
While watching them debate over strategy, elders and young people all
in the same room, not moving forward until they've reached a
consensus, all that I can think about is that it is not like any
council meeting, I know that... And, my God, my prayers are with them
in their struggle.
Believe it or not, I had never seen 5th World before!! Yes... I'm
Navajo. I do know what the storyline is, though, and since I love
spoiling movies, so will you. A Navajo girl and guy decide they're
going to hitchhike together from the city they live in to a town on
the rez (I forget which one). This trip is going to take them a couple
days. They 'hook up' somewhere along the way, and find out afterwards
that this is bad (Yiiiyaa') because they're from the *drum roll* SAME
CLAN!!! Oh, d**n... is that taboo?
5th World packed the d**er Pavillion and of this generously-sized
audience, I would estimate 30 people walked out, and they could've had
emergencies of some sort, for all I know. You know, the babysitter
accidentally fed the 6-month-old allergic to peanuts a Snickers bar,
or something. I might have finished the movie had I been able to find
justification for the use of the word 'black person' about 20 minutes into
the film.
The scene went something like this: James is driving the car. The
Navajo girl is sitting next to him. Ernie is on the passenger side.
The girl's hitchhiking buddy is in the backseat with a couple of other
drunk passengers. I believe he's sitting in the middle.
They're on the subjects of Native girls with flat butts... and I think
I took too long to write this blog, because it's all left me by now.
So, it's crass humor, which is fine. But, for some reason, even though
they seem to be having a good laugh, the girl (who isn't drunk)
decides she's gonna be all 'deep' and spout some completely
off-subject opinion of hers. And, what the hell did she say again??
Dammit, someone help me out.
She says, 'Blahbitty, blah, blah... Native girls... Hahahaha... go out
with some black person, or something.'
Huh?? Who says that? Last I heard, the word was zhinnii. I mean, what
was the reasoning behind employing the word black person except to push
buttons. I've seen plenty of movies employing 'inappropriate'
language, but if it's a good one, it will make you believe that the
character would actually be the type of character to say such a thing...
I sat through the entire eternity of the flop known as the Blair Witch
Project and, when it was finished, was completely sorry that I did.
After this, I vowed to not sit through another movie if it was
completely evident that it was not going to get any better. I think
all movies, should be gauged on the same criteria as any good or bad
major film, or I'm sorry, but Native filmmaking is not ever going to
be anything but Native filmmaking.
During the Q&A session, after the film, the girl standing next to me
commented, "I can't wait until I get a film finished, because I know
that I'm gonna be able to answer all the questions people ask me."
According to the filmmaker, Navajos getting into intimate
relationships with those of their same clan is becoming the norm.
"Those Christians," apparently, "just throw tradition out the window."
This explains why it's funny when an Indian man professes his lust for
white women and appalling when an Indian woman professes her interest
in black men.
I completely appreciate the time put into the script for Goodnight
Irene, because it was d**n solid. When a writer puts his being into
the development of a script and writes smartly, it's entirely evident.
Diet of Souls reminds us of the danger of taking for granted the lives
that are given so that we may continue to sustain ourselves. It starts
off with a quote that warns us of the always-present danger of the
souls of those animals that we consume retalliating against us, if we
should ever forget to remain humble. The Inupiat people's entire diet
consists of the souls of other beings is what it said. I've always
believed that animals and other live beings have souls, but I'm also
thankful to have been reminded by such a poetic film. I think, this is
the same film that had a piece of amazing archive footage of a seal
hunter sliding across the ice--patiently, slowly--mimicking the seal's
voice and clapping fin sound, until he was close enough to
successfully spear his kill.
Like I said, it's a shame that more people don't get out to see these
films.