Documentary Educational Resources - Subject / Inequalities / Indigenous Rights / All Films

Sweetheart Dancers

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 07:39:28 GMT

Indigenous dancers Sean and Adrian challenge the rulebook of San Manuel's Native American Sweetheart Special as they attempt to compete in the annual couple's competition. Dancing not only against the other dancers, but against the drums of oppression and closed-mindedness, this two-spirit couple is determined to rewrite the rules of "one man, one woman" with their resplendent charisma, character and resilience.

Director, Ben-Alex Dupris explains the origin of the film. "This story is rooted in an incident wherethe first Two Spirit couple, Sean Snyder and Adrian Stevens, decided to enter a Sweetheart specialcompetition at one big influential powwow. This had never been attempted beforein modern tribal dance circles and they were disqualified for not adhering to therule of the "one man, one woman" competition. This led to a year of reflection, and thoughtful preparationfor the next year where they courageously returned to the same powwow and were allowedto compete. This success story of resilience, and the action of love provided atalking point that spans decades of colonization with Indigenous communities. Prior to the Catholic boarding school era, LGBTQIA were accepted and respected by Native people. This story, and the spiritual renewal of our sacred Identitiesis one that leaves the audience with a greater understanding of our triballifeways. Within our hearts we are all one."

Sweetheart Dancers was directed by Ben-Alex Dupris, an enrolled member of the Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington State, where he grew up.

"[T]he expert cinematography and editing make Adrian and Sean’s relationship and emotion immediately legible. When they’re first turned away from competition by organizers who insist that “a couple must consist of two people. One man. One woman,” you feel their devastation intimately. A year later, when they win third place at a sweetheart dance open to all partners, you feel their elation and their love just as keenly." – Washington City Paper

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Grand Jury Award, Best Short Documentary, OUT Fest, US, 2019

Grand Jury Award, Best Short Documentary, Audience Award, "Out On Film" Atlanta LQTBQ Film Fest, US, 2019

Best Short Film, Lumbee Native Film Festival, US, 2019

Competition, Best Short Film, New Orleans Film Festival, US, 2019

Competition, Best Short Film, Palm Springs International Film Festival, US, 2019

Competition, Best Short Film, American Indian Film Festival, US, 2019

Competition, Best Short Film, Mountain Film, US, 2019

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, US, 2019

Seattle International Film Festival, US 2019

Cine Las Americas, US, 2019

Cucalorus Film Festival, US, 2019

Frameline, San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival, US, 2019

Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, US, 2019

AFI Docs Film Festival, US, 2019
Film Independent’s “The New Wave”, US, 2019

Hot Springs Film Festival, US, 2019
People of the Plains Visionmaker Film Festival, US, 2019
Way OUT West Film Fest, US, 2019

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Oyate

Mon, 20 May 2019 09:47:00 GMT

Oyate
Buy Now: $320.00

Oyate is a time capsule of moments, gestures, and events that took place on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota during the summer of 2015. The narrative, pieced together mainly from the day-to-day activities of two Lakota families, anchors the viewer among the rhythms and sounds of everyday life.

While not an outwardly politicized film, Oyate is an unmistakably political one; a film that keenly and quietly positions a collection of seemingly commonplace events (a conversation in the back of a truck, a group of young girls lighting off fireworks, a birth, a wedding reception) as deeply felt occurrences of purpose, faith, and love in an often difficult world.

"This tightly packed and intimate documentary gives a rare glimpse into a forgotten world we only hear about in passing. One of the most important DOCS of the year."

-Devin Negrete, Film Note Magazine

“Unlike so many other documentaries about Pine Ridge that focus on the poverty and deprivation of Lakota residents, this film interrupts that narrative to celebrate families and the intimacy of their day to day lives." - Danette Pachtner, Librarian for Film, Video & Digital Media and Women's Studies, Duke University

SELECTED AWARDS & SCREENINGS

Artistic Vision Award, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, US, 2017
Regard Neuf Finalist, Visions du Réel, Switzerland, 2017

EthnoKino, Switzerland, 2018

Duluth Superior Film Festival Indigenous Screening Series, US, 2018

Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, US, 2017
Independent Film Festival Boston, US, 2017

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6 Generations

Tue, 9 Oct 2018 15:11:00 GMT

6 Generations
Buy Now: $320.00

Ernestine De Soto is a Chumash Native American whose mother Mary Yee was the last speaker of her native Barbareño language. In 6 Generations, her family reaches back to the days the Spanish arrived in Santa Barbara and made first contact. Ernestine tells this history from the perspective of her female ancestors, making her a unique link with the past.

Famous anthropologist John Peabody Harrington, whose work focused on native peoples of California, started research with her family in 1913 and continued with three generations for nearly 50 years. This inspired Ernestine's mother to begin taking notes and, combined with mission records (which survived intact from the late 1700s), they form the heart of this story.

Because of these circumstances, her story, possible only in California, is unique in America.The impact of loss of land, language, culture and life itself is made all the more clear as this story is told in Native American voices, who describe the events as they experienced them. Ultimately, it is a story of survival and the fierce endurance of Ernestine's ancestors, particularly the women.

“This is history as autobiography, foregrounding the power of language and telling a checkered tale of cultural survival in the extreme. The time depth is simply astonishing, and the narrative is frank and true and sometimes stark. 6 Generations is a home run. I cannot recommend it highly enough.”
— David Hurst Thomas, Current Anthropology

"Using old drawings, photos, old film footage, live interviews, and dramatic readings by Ernestine of her family's story, filmmaker Paul Goldsmith has woven together an important testimony to the vibrancy of a people brought into the California missions around Santa Barbara."
— Glen Farris, Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

“Some films do not deserve a review so much as a rhapsody, and 6 Generations is one of these special films. There are some productions that go beyond ethnography to find the heart of a people — and show how individual anthropologists can transcend the professional limitations of their discipline and really engage fellow human beings — and 6 Generations is just such an achievement… This would be a particularly effective film to use in the classroom… Suitable for college courses in cultural anthropology, anthropology of gender, anthropology of colonialism/globalization, and Native American studies, as well as general audiences.”
— Jack David Eller, Anthropology Review Database

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Cree Hunters of Mistassini

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

Cree Hunters of Mistassini
Buy Now: $320.00

For thousands of years, the Cree Indians of James Bay inhabited the northern Quebec forests - originally gathering wild rice, and later hunting, fishing, and trapping. Traditionally, small groups of families spent the winter months together in the bush, subsisting on moose, beaver, deer, wild geese and caribou. In 1973 a film crew joined three families in their annual move to the north. In this film we come to know the Blacksmiths, the Jollys, and the Voyageurs: building a one-room lodge floored with pine boughs, hunting, trapping, preparing food and skins, and living together in the bush.

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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The Children Know

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

The Children Know
Buy Now: $495.00

The deep division in Andean society between rural and townspeople begins at birth, is perpetuated by the schools and continues throughout life. The film evidences the discrimination faced by the children of the rural and extremely poor campesinos. From different food arrangements at school to healthcare, there is a distinct divide between them and the town-dwelling mestizos. Evidence of discrimination's effects is unmitigated by the formal Flag Day festival that brings the two groups together with the campesinos urging their own to stand up against the mestizos and stop appearing cowardly before them. A stark portrayal of abject poverty and deep-rooted discrimination, The Children Know is an intriguing study in ethnographic filmmaking.

Films in the Bolivia series

Andean Women
The Children Know
Magic and Catholicism
Potato Planters
The Spirit Possession of Alejandro Mamani
Viracocha

About the Faces of Change Collection

Faces of Change is comprised of 25 films that examine five cultures selected for their distinct geographic locations: starting with the China Coast at sea level and moving up to Taiwan, then to Afghanistan, Kenya and finally to the mountains of Bolivia. Each location is examined through five themes: Rural Society, Education, Rural Economy, Women, and Beliefs.

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

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For Our Street Family

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:53:00 GMT

For Our Street Family
Buy Now: $295.00

Revolving around a teen drop-in center called Planet Youth, the film explores the pain of stereotypes, the importance of peer support, and the ambivalence towards identity experience by a group of First Nations teens in Prince Rupert, British Columbia.

Begun as a participatory photography group self-portrait, the film expands to capture the youths' difficult challenges with racism, abuse, and foster care, while exploring the teens' resilient playfulness and why they are a "street family." For Our Street Family provides the opportunity to finally listen to a group parented by bureaucracy and ignored by the public.

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The First Contacts

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:53:00 GMT

The First Contacts
Buy Now: $295.00

With the colonization of Brazil's mid-West in the 1950s and the construction of the Transamazônica and other highways in the 1970s, whites began to make large-scale contact with Indians, with disastrous results. Epidemics decimated populations of groups such as the Cinta-Larga, with the deaths amounting in some cases to veritable genocide. Groups of Indians were separated from relatives, their land parceled out to settlers under the auspices a colonial mythology that advocated "progress" over the rights of indigenous people. Archive footage shows the "pacification" of the Xavantes People, the Cinta Larga People in Rondônia, and the Parakanas in the south of Pará, and how this catastrophic contact decimated these populations. Even into the year 2000, a FUNAI crew works to find small, still-isolated groups that might be under threat from farmers and prospectors. In this video, the last survivor of an annihilated people refuses to make contact.

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A Frontier Conversation

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:52:00 GMT

A Frontier Conversation
Buy Now: $320.00

A fascinating journey through the Top End of Australia to explore what history means to the traditional landowners.

A Frontier Conversation documents a unique collaboration between indigenous and white historians from Australia and North America. In September 2004, a diverse group travelled through the Top End of Australia meeting representatives of the traditional landowners, and engaging in a dialogue about indigenous history. The themes that emerged raised more questions than answers - from cultural appropriation and copyright, to land rights, the role of language and art, and what history means to indigenous communities in the current climate of cultural reclamation and survival. Narrated by Professor Ann McGrath, Director of the Australian Centre for Indigenous History at the Australian National University, A Frontier Conversation is a fascinating and thought-provoking account of a journey that breaks away from "the History Wars" and signals the first step in a new approach to the study of frontier history.

"A Frontier Conversation asks intriguing questions, and has some unexpected answers. At one level, it's a very simple and watchable film about a group of historians from Australia and the United States visiting Indigenous people in the Northern Territory, and talking with them about the importance of history. As the film progresses, we realise that its concerns are not simple at all. They are nothing less than the complex problem of the very different uses that history is put to in different cultural settings, and its varied meanings and consequences as a result. The film asks some difficult questions: such as how valuable can histories written by outsiders to any community be? What are the responsibilities of the historian, Indigenous or not, to the people whose stories he or she attempts to tell?"
— Ann Curthoys, Manning Clark Professor of History, Australian National University

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Indian Self-Rule

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 12:45:00 GMT

Indian Self-Rule
Buy Now: $320.00

"When the 20th century began, most Americans who thought about Indians at all did so in the past tense. Like a photograph, the image and culture of Indian people were frozen in time. Yet for Indians, the 20th century was a time of recovery. Instead of a photograph, Indian life and culture was more like a motion picture, and the story line or plot moved on..."

— Roger Buffalohead, Historian

After centuries of struggle, the Indians of North America own less than 2% of the land settled by their ancestors. Indian Self-Rule traces the history of white-Indian relations from nineteenth century treaties through the present, as tribal leaders, historians, teachers, and other Indians gather at a 1983 conference organized to reevaluate the significance of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.

The experiences of the Flathead Nation of Montana, the Navajo Nation of the Southwest, and the Quinault people of the Olympic Peninsula illustrate some of the ways Indians have dealt with shifting demands imposed upon them, from allotment to reorganization to termination and relocation. Particularly eloquent are Indian reflections upon the difficulties of maintaining cultural identities in a changing world and within a larger society that views Indians with ambivalence.

"Society wants...Indians to be like everyone else; and yet...wants Indians to be Indians."
— Sam Deloria, Director of the American Indian Law Center

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.

Visit Indigenous Rights to see additional products in this category.

It's Now or Never!

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 12:45:00 GMT

It's Now or Never!
Buy Now: $295.00

In April 1997, the Makuxi Indians of North Roraima commemorate their struggle to have their land holdings recognized by the Brazilian government. Through testimonials, skits and animation, they re-create a history of forced labor and exploitation at the hands of whites.

Miners brought alcohol and disease to the indigenous community, but the Makuxi fought back. Through brave demonstrations and other tactics, they eventually regained their rights and land. Visitors and journalists witness this history lesson, and so do a new generation of Makuxi children, who are learning how vital it is to protect their cultural heritage.

Films in the Conflicts in the Amazon series

Free-For-All In Sararé

It's Now or Never!

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