Join the National Museum of the American Indian’s Film and Video Center and the National Gallery of Art for a remarkable series offering fresh views of the contemporary Native American experience in media.
Each program will include a moderated discussion following the screening.
Admission for the screenings are free, no tickets necessary. All programs subject to change.
PRETTY PICTURES
Saturday,October 4, 2008, 2 pm
East Building Auditorium
National Gallery of Art
4th and Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC
Exploring elements of Native female identity, we ask, How does art influence children? How do romantic images of Indians enchant Native and non-Native people, young and old?
Conversion (2006, 8 min.) Director: Nanobah Becker (Navajo).
In a remote corner of the Navajo Nation, circa 1950, a visit by Christian missionaries has catastrophic consequences for a family. In Navajo with English subtitles.
Disney’s Pocahontas (1995, 84 min.) Directors: Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg.
Free-spirited Pocahontas lives a carefree life with her animal friends Meeko and Flit and the companionship of her loving Grandmother Willow. When English settlers arrive on the shores of their village, a chance encounter with Captain John Smith begins a friendship that changes both cultures forever.
Moderated discussion led by Pat Aufderheide with filmmaker Nanobah Becker and National Museum of the American Indian research historian Gabrielle Tayac (Piscataway) to follow the screening.
STRANGE LOVE
Sunday, October 5, 2pm
Elmer and Mary Louise Rasmuson Theater
National Museum of the American Indian
4th Street and Independence Avenue SW
Washington, DC
National issues of sovereignty and cultural acceptance often affect Native people on a personal level. Many individuals must search for life's greatest moments—marriage, childrenm etc.—within the confines of blood quantum. This government-mandated system, which defines citizenship by how much "Indian blood" someone has, leads many Native people to question their cultural worth, asking, is identity in my blood?
Club Native (2008, 78 min.) Director: Tracey Deer (Mohawk)
On the Mohawk Kahnawake Reserve there are two very firm but unwritten rules: don’t marry a white man and don’t have a child with a white man. Doing so means losing all standing as a Native person, for you and your children. Documentarian Tracey Deer follows four women from Kahnawake as they battle the pressures of life, love, and community to protect their status as tribal members, as well as the rights of their spouses and children to live on tribal lands.
Moderated discussion led by Gabrielle Tayac (Piscataway) with filmmaker Tracey Deer to follow the screening.
NMAI Film & Video Center | PO Box 37012, MRC 590 | Washington DC 20013 | 202-633-6695
