This week's featured Vision Maker Media film is an eye-popping, mind-jolting mix of animation, music and real voices collected from interviews with Native Americans across the country to create a distinct view of modern America from a uniquely contemporary Native American perspective. Told through nine short films that cover such topics as language preservation, sacred … Continue reading Forty Years, Forty Films, Forty Weeks: Injunuity
Author: rfraimow
Forty Years, Forty Films, Forty Weeks: Navajo Code Talkers
The Navajo Marines who used their language as an essential defensive weapon during WWII tell their story in this week's award-winning Vision Maker Media film. Using archival footage and first-person interviews, the 1982 film was one of the first documentary features to present the history of the Navajo Code Talkers after decades of classified secrecy, … Continue reading Forty Years, Forty Films, Forty Weeks: Navajo Code Talkers
Forty Years, Forty Films, Forty Weeks: Choctaw Code Talkers
In 1918, Choctaw members of the American Expeditionary Forces were asked to use their Native language as a powerful tool against the German Forces in World War I -- despite the fact that they were not yet citizens of the United States. This week's featured Vision Maker Media film tells the little-known story of the … Continue reading Forty Years, Forty Films, Forty Weeks: Choctaw Code Talkers
Forty Years, Forty Films, Forty Weeks: Hand Game
This week's featured Vision Maker Media film, "Hand Game," explores the mythic and historic roots of contemporary gambling in the Northwest Native Society through a look at the traditional hand game (also called "stick game" or "bone game"). Traveling from reservation to reservation and meeting engaging and colorful players, the filmmakers show how traditional ways … Continue reading Forty Years, Forty Films, Forty Weeks: Hand Game
Forty Years, Forty Films, Forty Weeks: Looking Toward Home
This week's featured Vision Maker Media film, "Looking Toward Home," looks through the eyes of Native Americans who left the reservation for life in major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Beginning with a look at government relocation programs of the 1950s and 1960s, the film tells … Continue reading Forty Years, Forty Films, Forty Weeks: Looking Toward Home
Forty Years, Forty Films, Forty Weeks: The Thick Dark Fog
"I didn't know the medical words, so I called the problem what I felt it to be - the thick dark fog." Up through the 1970s, Native American children were frequently removed from their families and sent to federal Indian boarding schools in an attempt to "civilize" them - "kill the Indian, and save the … Continue reading Forty Years, Forty Films, Forty Weeks: The Thick Dark Fog
Trying New Things: Meditations on NDSR from the Symposium in DC
Way back in August, when I was already feeling overwhelmed by this residency, I decided that yes, I was going to join the planning committee for the NDSR Symposium. I don’t know why I thought taking on more obligations was a good idea, when I was already feeling like I might collapse under the weight … Continue reading Trying New Things: Meditations on NDSR from the Symposium in DC
Forty Years, Forty Films, Forty Weeks: Racing the Rez
"If it's not the best running movie ever made, it's damn sure in the fight." (Christopher Marlowe, author of Born To Run.) This week's Vision Maker Media film, "Racing the Rez," focuses on the lives of five Navajo and Hopi teenagers from rival high schools as they compete for state championship glory in cross-country running. … Continue reading Forty Years, Forty Films, Forty Weeks: Racing the Rez
Resident Webinar Recording Roundup
With Lorena Ramírez-López's presentation last month on "Whats, Whys, and How Tos of Web Archiving," our AAPB NDSR webinar series has now concluded. However, if you want to catch up on what you missed, I'm happy to share that recordings of all our resident-hosted webinars, along with slides and other resources, are now available for … Continue reading Resident Webinar Recording Roundup
40 Years, 40 Films, 40 Weeks: The Great American Footrace
This week's Emmy-nominated Vision Maker Media Film, "The Great American Footrace," tells the story of a small-town Cherokee boy who competes in one of history's wildest publicity schemes -- and takes home the gold. 199 runners left Los Angeles on March 4, 1928; only 55 crossed the finish line in New York City 84 days … Continue reading 40 Years, 40 Films, 40 Weeks: The Great American Footrace
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