Documentary Educational Resources - Geography / North America / United States / Arizona / All Films

Waaki (Sanctuary)

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 16:38:58 GMT

Renowned Hopi filmmaker Victor Masayesva, Jr. explores the centrality of corn for the Hopi, Nahua, and Maya, tracing the role of corn from creation stories to today's struggles against climate change. The film presents complex interrelationships between humans, plants, food systems, animals, birds, ceremonies and the cycles of the earth, sun and moon within the universe from a Hopi, Maya, and Nahua perspective. By tracing the lineage and mysterious origins of corn, we gain a deeper understanding of the ancestry of communities that transcend borders.

Masayesva writes, "The idea of sanctuary in our time is colored by the politics of human immigration. As contemporary media consumers, we are saturated with threats and security measures originating from alerts about immigration into our neighborhood. Today state borders have restricted and closed the numerous routes blazed by migrants and only wild birds and animals move freely without visas but nonetheless restricted to wildlife refuges.

Humankind has been in constant movement since the emergence, intent on leaving an oppressive order, seeking a better life, seeking sanctuary. For our age, sanctuary cannot be only within familiar beliefs and borders but beyond in the hope we carry in our soul. Sanctuary is the best we can be at the moment, and in the future."

"Waaki presents Hopi knowledge with a self-assured visual sovereignty."
– Dorothy Christian, Simon Fraser University

"The film is a fascinating blend of genres - part ethnographic, part documentary and part animation."
– Vicky Westover, Hanson FilmTV Institute Director, U of Arizona

Selected Screenings

Native Crossroads Film Festival, 2020

ImagiNative, 2019

Cornell University

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Itam Hakim Hopiit

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 12:45:00 GMT

Itam Hakim Hopiit
Buy Now: $320.00

Recently inducted into the National Film Registry, Itam Hakim Hopiit, which translates as "we / someone, the Hopi," is a poetic visualization of Hopi philosophy. Made at the time of the Hopi Tricentennial - marking 300 years since the 1680 Pueblo Revolt against Spanish colonial rule – the film presents a view of Hopi culture and history. Speaking in Hopi, a community elder shares personal recollections and cultural history, recounting stories of the Hopi emergence, perseverance, and the Bow Clan migration stories of his father. Through use of the film medium, Masayesva challenges viewers to understand the Hopi conception of time as cyclic, in which the world starts, ends, and starts again.

" ...The film offers a cultural bridge of a very different kind, evoking a culture and an environment through the look and sound of it and the fluidly majestic pace of its unfolding...to impart the drama of distant rainstorms across desert landscapes or cause one to gasp in astonishment at the rainbow that enters the frame during a revelatory pan, for indeed the lyricism of Masayesva Jr.'s imagery and the tone of reverence for the earth, whose caretakers the Hopi consider themselves to be, has the power to transport the viewer. It is the achievement of Masayesva Jr.'s work that even the most committed interpreters among us stand to be converted, if only for a moment, and taught the quiet virtues of observation.".

–Michael Renov, University of Southern California

"In this innovative work one of the last members of the Hopi historians' clan, Ross Macaya, recounts various epochs in Hopi history.... Macaya's tale concludes with a particularly Hopi type of history–the Hopi Prophesy."

– Elizabeth Weatherford, National Museum of the American Indian, in Art Journal

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Gold Hugo Award, Chicago International Film Festival, 1984

Museum of Modern Art, NYC

The Whitney Museum of American Art

The Long Beach Museum

National Museum of the Native American

Selected museums in Japan, the Netherlands, France, and the former Soviet Union

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The Sunrise Dance

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 07:47:00 GMT

The Sunrise Dance
Buy Now: $295.00

The Sunrise Ceremony documents an ancient, sacred ritual which marks the passage from adolescence to adulthood for young Apache women, now under the threat of disappearance due to the pressures of cultural assimilation.

The documentary focuses on the Sunrise Ceremony of 13-year-old Maureen Nachu, a member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe, who lives on the Fort Apache Reservation in Whiteriver, Arizona. Viewers see the elaborate preparations for the ceremony, including the rituals of the Medicine Man who presides over the dance, spiritual purification rites in the Sweat Lodge, and the midnight appearance of the Crown Dancers.

The Sunrise Dance itself is a tremendous physical test, lasting four days. It proves that Maureen has the courage and strength of character to take her place in adult society, as he dance is the strongest commitment a young Apache girl can make to her family and tradition. For Maureen, her family, and her community, the ceremony is a reaffirmation of tribal identity and a celebration of the central role of women in Apache culture.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Margaret Mead Festival, 1994

Festival dei Popoli, Florence, Italy, 1994

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A Weave of Time

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:25:00 GMT

A Weave of Time
Buy Now: $320.00

A Weave of Time powerfully documents 50 years and four generations of change in one Navajo family. In 1938, noted anthropologist John Adair travelled to the Navajo reservation in Pine Springs, Arizona with a 16mm hand wind motion picture camera. There Adair met and filmed the Burnside family, creating a visual record of Navajo life in the 1930's. In an unprecedented composite, Adair's previously unseen historical footage is juxtaposed with contemporary scenes and in-depth interviews with family members 50 years later. As their story unfolds, the conflicts between past and present emerge.

The eldest family member, John Burnside, 84, fears that Navajo customs will disappear in a world of fast food and super highways. John is a traditional medicine man who spent most of his life learning the Blessingway — the foundation of the Navajo religion. He speaks only Navajo — his grandchildren speak only English. “I wonder if it will all be forgotten, those things I have learned. Today everyone speaks English. I do not speak English. I live in silence.”

In A Weave Of Time, the daily struggles for family stability, education and economic survival in contemporary America challenge the existence of traditional identity including the Navajo religion, language and arts. This rich and telling film of the Burnside history becomes a complex microcosm of Navajo culture in transition and raises questions about the survival of ethnicity in 20th century America.

“No film on Native Americans has undertaken such an ambitious approach to the subject of culture change. A Weave Of Time is one of the finest documentaries I've seen in this field.”

— Elizabeth Weatherford, Curator Film & Video, Museum of the American Indian

“Of particular interest to social scientists, students of Navajo life, and students of change — it will also serve as a remarkable aesthetic statement.”

— Edward T. Hall, Ph.D., Anthropologist, Author of The Dance of Life, The Hidden Dimension

“A unique portrayal of Navajo life and culture as it has evolved over four generations. The film is both an archival documentary and a heartfelt exploration of one Navajo family's struggles and joys.”

— Earthwatch Film Awards

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Earthwatch Award, 1987

Blue Ribbon, American Film Festival, 1987

Cine Golden Eagle, 1987

Pacific Film Archives, UC Berkeley, 1988

Berlin Film Festival (Forum), Berlin, 1987

Anthropos Film Festival, Los Angeles, 1987

Festival de Popoli, Florence, Italy, 1987

Hawaii International Film Festival, Honolulu, 1987

Native American Film and Video Festival, New York City, 1987

American Anthropology Association Conference, Chicago, 1987

Margaret Mead Film Festival, New York City, 1986

Museum of Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM (Southwest Premiere), 1986

Flaherty Film Seminar, Aurora, New York, 1986

Disclaimer on Naming:

Please be aware that this documentary may include outdated or potentially offensive language. Such terms are not endorsed by DER but are presented in their original context to promote awareness, education, and discussion. Learn more about DER’s efforts to use reparative language and honor the preferred names of Indigenous communities by clicking here.

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