Native American Film Series
Vision Maker Media and The Ross Media Arts Center are proud to present a series of free screenings featuring short Native American films and tv programs from the VMM public broadcasting archives, spanning nearly 50 years of programming.
Unless otherwise noted, screenings in this series will take place on the second Monday of each month and are admission free and open to the public. Tickets available at the Ross box office (online ticketing not available for free screenings).
ABOUT VISION MAKER MEDIA
What began as a film archive to conserve and document Native American stories, transformed into the nation’s leader in content by and about Indigenous people for public broadcasting. Vision Maker Media works with Native producers to develop, produce, and distribute programs to educate audiences. More info…
FOR THE RIGHTS OF ALL
MONDAY, MARCH 10 – 7:20 P.M.
For the Rights of All: Ending Jim Crow in Alaska tells the story of an extraordinary Alaskan woman who becomes an unforeseen hero in the fight for civil rights. Elizabeth Peratrovich–a young, unassuming Tlingit Indian mother of three–testified before the Alaska Territorial Senate in 1945 and swayed the floor vote with her compelling testimony in favor of the passage of the Anti-Discrimination Act, the first civil rights bill passed in the United States since the Civil War. (Run time TBA)
CRYING EARTH RISE UP (2014)
MONDAY, APRIL 14 – TIME TBA
Followed by a Q&A with Daniel Snow, moderated by Vision Maker Media’s Alana Stone.
“Water is our first home. Water is our first medicine. Without water, there is no life.” -Debra White Plume (Oglala Lakota), Activist | A Lakota mother studying geology seeks the source of the water contamination that may have caused her daughter’s critical health problems. Meanwhile, a Lakota grandmother fights the regional expansion of uranium mining. Crying Earth Rise Up exposes the cost of uranium mining and its impact on Great Plains drinking water.
BRING HER HOME
MONDAY, MAY 12 – TIME TBA
Bring Her Home follows three Indigenous women — an artist, an activist and a politician — as they work to vindicate and honor their relatives who are victims in the growing epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. As they face the lasting effects of historical trauma, each woman searches for healing while navigating the oppressive systems that brought about this very crisis. (Run Time TBA).
STANDING BEAR’S FOOTSTEPS
MONDAY, JUNE 9 – TIME TBA
In 1877, the Ponca people were exiled from their Nebraska homeland to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. To honor his dying son’s last wish to be buried in his homeland, Chief Standing Bear set off on a grueling, six-hundred-mile journey home. Captured en-route, Standing Bear sued a famous U.S. army general for his freedom–choosing to fight injustice not with weapons, but with words. The Chief stood before the court to prove that an Indian was a person under the law. The story quickly made newspaper headlines–attracting powerful allies, as well as enemies.
OHIYESA: THE SOUL OF AN INDIAN
MONDAY, July 14 – TIME TBA
This documentary follows Kate Beane, a young Dakota woman, as she examines the extraordinary life of her celebrated relative, Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa). Biography and journey come together as Kate traces Eastman’s path—from traditional Dakota boyhood, through education at Dartmouth College, and in later roles as physician, author, lecturer, and Native American advocate. (57 minutes)
NAVAJO MATH CIRCLES (2016)
MONDAY, August 11 – TIME TBA
Navajo Math Circles follows Navajo students in a lively collaboration with mathematicians. Using a model called math circles, the students stay late after school and assemble over the summer at Diné College in Tsaile, Arizona, to study mathematics. The math circles approach emphasizes student-centered learning by putting children in charge of exploring mathematics to their own joy and satisfaction. (57 minutes)
ACROSS THE CREEK (2014) & FINDING REFUGE (2015)
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 – TIME TBA
ACROSS THE CREEK: Broken by the legacy of colonialism, Lakota Tribes struggle for restoration, healing and rebuilding. This film is a conversation between the elder and younger generations about reclaiming their stories and culture. By looking at traditional family structure, spirituality, language and values, they hope to build a vision for the future. (27 minutes)
FINDING REFUGE: A dying woman’s effort to preserve her Native culture doesn’t end when she passes, but prompts a renewal in finding pride in that culture. She confronts the violent event over two centuries ago that began the destruction of her people and the shame that colonialism created. (26 minutes)
WORDS FROM A BEAR (2019)
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13 – TIME TBA
WORDS FROM A BEAR examines the enigmatic life and mind of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Navarro Scott Momaday, one of Native America’s most celebrated authors of poetry and prose. The film visually captures the essence of Momaday’s writings, relating each written line to his unique American experience representing ancestry, place, and oral history. Cinematically this story takes audiences on a spiritual journey through the expansive landscapes of the West, when Momaday’s Kiowa ancestors roamed the Great Plains with herds of buffalo, to the sand-painted valleys of Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico, where his imagination ripened and he showed superior writing skills as a young mission student. (1 hour, 25 minutes)
GROWING NATIVE ALASKA: PEOPLE OF THE NORTH (2018)
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 – TIME TBA
All across Alaska, Native cultures have depended on the abundant natural resources found there to support their families, cultures and way of life. Now these resources are growing scarce, and the people who have relied on them for centuries have to find new ways to adapt. GROWING NATIVE is a four-part series focusing on reclaiming traditional indigenous knowledge and food ways to address critical issues of health and wellness, the environment and human rights. (57 minutes)
GAMES OF THE NORTH
MONDAY, DECEMBER 8 – TIME TBA
For thousands of years, traditional Inuit sports have been vital for survival within the unforgiving Arctic. Acrobatic and explosive, these ancestral games evolved to strengthen mind, body and spirit within the community. Following four modern Inuit athletes reveals their unique relationship to the games as they compete across the North. As unprecedented change sweeps across their traditional lands, their stories illuminate the importance of the games today. (27 minutes)
Programs in this series have been collected from public broadcasts spanning from the 1970s to today and may contain a low-resolution picture and occasional image anomalies from their transfer to digital media.