Sweetgrass
Cinema Festival Sept. 14-16
NMU
will host an inaugural Native American film festival titled “Sweetgrass
Cinema” Wednesday through Friday, Sept. 14-16. The festival will
feature screening of contemporary and classic Native American films,
presentations, workshops, panel discussions and other events. The
public is invited to attend free of charge.
Participating
guest speakers include Sherwin Bitsui, an Academy of American Poets
award winner and Sundance Film Festival participant; Chris Eyre,
the director of Images of Indians: How Hollywood Stereotyped
the Native American; and Brent Michael Davids, a Grammy co-winner
who has rescored Last of the Mohicans in native language
and music.
Allison
Hedge Coke (English) said she received a King-Chavez-Parks
grant and asked students what type of project they would like to
see the funding support.
“Most
agreed that they wanted to see more films,” she said. “The name
for the festival comes from a new student organization – the Sweetgrass
Association – which has been formed to implement more fine arts
for educational purposes. Everyone loves movies, and I’ve chosen
films that explore diverse issues including athletics, health and
wellness, sociology, psychology and politics. It's a nice complement
to the Domestic Diversity Institute being held on campus at the
same time, and it ties in with the 'Old Hollywood' homecoming theme.”
The films The Gift, Black Cloud and American
Indian Graffiti will be shown Wednesday, Sept. 14, at 2, 7
and 9 p.m., respectively. Doe Boy, Tattoo on
my Heart (a scene from which is pictured at right) and A
Thousand Roads will be shown Thursday, Sept. 15, at 2, 4:15
and 8:30 p.m. The Friday, Sept. 16 films will be Goodnight Irene
at 2 p.m. and Last of the Mohicans (rescored version with
native language and music) at 7:30 p.m. A "Cinema Poetry
SLAM Showcase" will follow at 9:30. A full schedule is available
at Sweetgrass
Cinema.
The
film festival is sponsored by the Sweetgrass Association, the Landmark
Inn, the American Indian Coordinating Council, Michigan Humanities
Council, Native Americans of Marquette County, the National Museum
of the American Indian, and the Center for Native American Studies.
For more information, contact the center at 227-1397.
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