Native Eyes Film Showcase
November 30–December 4, 2011
View a flier on the series
(PDF - 975K - requires a reader application such as Adobe Acrobat Reader)
See some recent publicity:
Article from Explorer News
Video from Arizona Illustrated, Arizona Public Media
Wednesday, November 30
Center for English as a Second Language (CESL)
1100 E. James E. Roger Way (on the University of Arizona campus)
5:30 p.m. FREE
Scene from
"Bear Tung"
Bear Tung
Canada, 2010, 9 min, Dir. Travis Shilling (Ojibwe): Starring Gary Farmer (Cayuga)
A Native hunter and his prey participate in a press conference in the woods.
Beau LeBeau weighs his dietary options at the supermarket in "Good Meat"
Good Meat
USA, 2011, 51 min, Dir. Sam Hurst
Once a star athlete in his community, Beau LeBeau (Oglala Lakota) now weighs 333 pounds, which has triggered the onset of type 2 diabetes. With the help of a physician, Beau starts exercising and takes up a traditional Lakota diet of buffalo meat and other Native foods.
Thursday, December 1
Grand Cinemas Crossroads
4811 East Grant Road (Grant & Swan)
7 p.m. $5 admission*
Shorts Program
curated by Charissa Delmar (Navajo)
Scene from "Savage"
Savage
Canada, 2009, 6 min, Dir. Lisa Jackson (Ojibwe): In Cree with English subtitles
Official Selection, Berlin International Film Festival 2010; Winner of Genie Award for Best Live Action Short Drama 2011
A wildly inventive take on the profound trauma of the boarding school for Native people.
Josh and his father on their final hunting trip
Wapawekka
Canada, 2010, 16 min, Dir. Danis Goulet (Métis); In English and Cree with English subtitles
Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival 2011 & Toronto International Film Festival 2010
A trip to an isolated family camp begins to erode the cultural distance between a traditional Cree man and his son.
In This Manner, I Am
USA, 2010, 5 min, Dir. Velma Craig (Navajo)
An animated adaptation of a poem about an encounter between a man and a young Navajo woman.
In Person: Director Velma Kee Craig will attend this screening.
Scene from "File Under Miscellaneous"
File Under Miscellaneous
Canada, 2010, 7 min, Dir. Jeff Barnaby (Mi’kmaq)
Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival 2010
Pablo Neruda’s poem “Walking Around” inspires a gruesome, futuristic fantasy of a Mi'kmaq man who decides to assimilate into the ruling culture.
Scene from "Burnt"
Burnt
Canada/Colombia/USA, 2009, 14 min, Dir. Alejandro Valbuena (Kogi)
This award winning experimental film interprets a childhood memory to create an electric romance between two young men.
Scene from "The Cave"
The Cave
Canada, 2009, 11 min, Dir. Helen Haig-Brown (Tsilhqot’in); In English and Tsilhqot’in with English subtitles
Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival 2010
A hunter discovers a portal to the spirit world in this moving rendering of a legend.
Three Little Boys
USA, 2009, 12 min, Dir. Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Creek)
Three young boys accompany their uncle to church and find out just how difficult it is to channel divine behavior.
Games of the North
USA, 2011, 27 min, Dir. Jonathan Stanton
Four Inuit athletes travel throughout Alaska competing in the ancestral games of strength.
Friday, December 2
Grand Cinemas Crossroads
4811 East Grant Road (Grant & Swan)
7 p.m. $5 admission*
Because of Who I Am
USA, 2011, 4 min, Dir. Marcella A. Ernest (Ojibwe)
Photographs of regalia and art animate a young woman’s challenge to become a men’s traditional powwow dancer.
Nita Quintero during her Sunrise Ceremony
Apache 8
USA, 2011, 57 min, Dir. Sande Zeig
In Person: Katy Aday, Apache 8 crew member, will attend this screening.
This documentary tells the story of an all-woman wild land firefighter crew from the White Mountain Apache Tribe, who have been fighting fires in Arizona and throughout the U.S., for over 30 years. Four extraordinary women from different generations of the Apache 8 crew share their personal narratives with humor and tenderness.
9 p.m. $5 admission*
Ebony Society
New Zealand, 2010, 13 min, Dir. Tammy Davis (Ngati Rangi/Atihaunui a Paparangi)
Official Selection, Berlin International Film Festival 2011 & Sundance Film Festival 2011
Two boys break into a house and find themselves confronted with an unexpected situation.
Inuit hunter Apuna falls witness to a terrible crime
On the Ice
USA, 2011, 96 min, Dir. Andrew Okpeaha MacLean (Iñupiat)
Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival 2011 & Winner of Best Debut Film at Berlin International Film Festival 2011
In a world where anonymity does not exist, an Inuit hunter inadvertently becomes the witness of a murder and must navigate the uneasy morality between honoring the body and memory of one friend and destroying the life of another.
Saturday, December 3
Grand Cinemas Crossroads
4811 East Grant Road (Grant & Swan)
7 p.m. $5 admission*
Inuit High Kick
Canada, 2009, 3 min, Dir. Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuk)
Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival 2010
An ancient test of athleticism and skill is dramatically and sensuously portrayed.
Basketball star Shoni Schimmel
Off the Rez
USA, 2011, 86 min, Dir. Jonathan Hock
In Person: Ceci Moses (coach and mother) and Rick Schimmel (father) will attend this screening.
Official Selection, Tribeca Film Festival 2011
Shoni Schimmel, a Umatilla Indian and one of the best high school basketball players in the country, dreams of being the first from her tribe to get a college scholarship. Shoni and her mother/coach Ceci battle together to redeem generations of struggle for their family and their people.
9 p.m. $5 admission*
B. Dreams
USA, 2009, 12 min, Dir. Blackhorse Lowe (Navajo)
Official Selection, Tribeca Film Festival 2009 & Sundance Film Festival 2009
Romance and comedy come together to paint a contemporary portrait of love on the Navajo Reservation.
Scene from "Matariki"
Matariki
New Zealand, 2010, 92 min, Dir. Michael Bennett (Te Arawa)
Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival 2010
Set over five days and nights, this fast paced drama is the story of lives brought into collision by one event. When a young man steals a car, he unwittingly starts a chain of events that will change his life and the lives of others, forever.
Sunday, December 4
Baboquivari High School,
Tohono O’odham Nation
(Sells, AZ)
2 p.m. FREE
Laguna Pueblo children take part in Grab Day
Grab
USA, 2011, 60 min, Dir. Billy Luther (Navajo/Hopi/Laguna Pueblo)
In Person: Billy Luther
Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival 2011
An intimate portrait of the little-documented Grab Day in the villages of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, where members annually throw water and food items from the rooftop of a home to people standing below. Luther's film follows three families as they prepare for the annual event, chronicling their lives leading up to this day.
3:30 p.m. FREE
Contestant Crystal Frazier
Miss Navajo
USA, 2006, 60 min, Dir. Billy Luther (Navajo/Hopi/Laguna Pueblo)
Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival 2007
A celebration of women and tradition in Navajo culture explored through one young woman’s quest for the Miss Navajo Nation crown. The filmmaker follows Crystal Frazier’s journey and interviews winners from the past five decades.
Sunday, December 4, Encore Screenings
Grand Cinemas Crossroads
4811 East Grant Road (Grant & Swan)
2 p.m. $5 admission*
On the Ice
USA, 2011, 96 min, Dir. Andrew Okpeaha MacLean (Iñupiat)
Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival 2011; Winner of Best Debut Film in 2011 Berlin International Film Festival 2011
In a world where anonymity does not exist, an Inuit hunter inadvertently becomes the witness of a murder and must navigate the uneasy morality between honoring the body and memory of one friend and destroying the life of another.
4:30 p.m. $5 admission*
Matariki
New Zealand, 2010, 92 min, Dir. Michael Bennett (Te Arawa)
Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival 2010
Set over five days and nights, this fast paced drama is the story of lives brought into collision by one event. When a young man steals a car, he unwittingly starts a chain of events that will change his life and the lives of others, forever.
* Tickets are available at the theater’s box office on the day of the show.
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Native Eyes Film Showcase, presented by Arizona State Museum and the UA's Hanson Film Institute, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian, brings the best of new cinema made by today’s most talented indigenous filmmakers (directors, actors, producers, writers) to celebrate their creativity and to examine the underlying themes of their work.
