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

We Are The Warriors

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 15:15:24 GMT

We Are The Warriors
Buy Now: $320.00

For nearly 70 years, students and alumni of Wells High School in Maine have called themselves the “Warriors.” Their yearbook, the Abenaki, was named for the Indigenous people the town’s settlers first encountered in the 1600s. And the school mascot was a stoic Native American head in profile with braids and feathered headband. When, in 2017, public allegations emerged that Warriors fans made “Indian” whooping calls and donned “war paint,” the community began a process to decide whether to keep or drop their long-held mascot. We Are The Warriors follows the proceedings of the school district’s Mascot Advisory Committee and draws on interviews with residents of Wells, Maine to paint a profile of one community’s process as they confront their history and identity, challenging long-held misconceptions about the meanings behind their team’s name.

The film’s Co-Directors, both graduates of Wells High School, gathered interviews and insights from residents of Wells and Wabanaki people from what is now Maine, Québec, and the Canadian Maritimes. Revelations about the town’s brutal colonial history and difficult conversations about the actual impact of the use of the mascot were key to changing hearts and minds of committee members. The film highlights evolving opinions of residents with a secondary focus on the history of the region. After months of informed consideration, the committee votes to recommend that the school board retire the mascot.

We Are the Warriors serves as a case study for how one community contends with the legacy of settler colonialism and speaks to national issues regarding misunderstandings about the role and place of indigenous people in American society.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS
Maine Public Television, USA, 2024

Vermont Public Television, USA, 2024

Port Jefferson Documentary Series, USA, 2024
Tourmaline Prize for Best Feature made in Maine, 26th Maine Int'l Film Festival, USA 2023

Global Peace Film Festival, USA, 2023
Monadnock Int'l Film Festival, USA, 2023

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The Intersection

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 08:03:38 GMT

The Intersection
Buy Now: $320.00

The Intersection examines the distinct yet intersecting trajectories of French-speaking immigrants from both Canada and Francophone-African countries, as they converge in Lewiston, Maine. Through a focus on the lives and friendship between Cecile, a French-Canadian woman whose family came to the US to work in the local mills, part of an immigrant wave beginning in the 1840s, and Trésor, a Congolese man seeking asylum who is part of a recent wave of African immigrants, the film suggests the importance of language for identity and community. Cecile and Trésor build a bond around their common first language, French. After a lifetime of suppressing her French identity, Cecile regains pride in her origins, while the common language offers Trésor a means of building connections in his new home.

The filmmakers frame this story of friendship within a broader historical context, encouraging viewers to reflect on the history of immigration in Maine since the first European settlers arrived. In just over 30 minutes, the film manages to provide an overview of immigrant experiences, including histories of discrimination and oppression both past and present. This deeply American story touches on issues relevant to communities around the country and is a great film for classes in sociolinguistics, American history, immigration, Francophone studies and more.

“I strongly recommend this film to anyone seeking a better understanding of what Francophonie means...” – Olivier Favry, Cultural Attaché, French Consulate in Boston

“The Intersection is a heart-warming film that shows the deep bond formed through the bridge of a common language.” – Charlotte Cushman, educator

Selected Screenings & Awards

Audience Award for Best Short, Camden Int'l Film Festival, USA, 2021

Tourmaline Prize for Best Maine Film Short, Maine Int'l Film Festival, USA, 2022

Royal Anthropological Institute RAI Film Festival, UK, 2023

Independent Film Festival Boston, USA, 2022

FLOURISH Festival, Fredericton, NB, Canada, 2022

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Our Lives In Our Hands

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 13:51:00 GMT

Our Lives In Our Hands
Buy Now: $320.00

Our Lives In Our Hands examines the traditional Native American craft of split ash basketmaking as a means of economic and cultural survival for Aroostook Micmac Indians of northern Maine. This documentary of rural off-reservation Indian artisans aims to break down stereotypical images. Basketmakers are filmed at their craft in their homes, at work on local potato farms and at business meetings of the Basket Bank, a cooperative formed by the Aroostook Micmac Council. First person commentaries are augmented by authentic 17th century Micmac music.

"This documentary film, in which our voices are going to be heard and in which we show how we live, how we work, and ways we have chosen to continue the lives of our fore fathers and mothers, will make an important difference. The Aroostook Micmac Council has fully supported this project. The Micmac Indian community is thankful and proud to share our lives with all of you in the hope that this film contributes to a better understanding of who we really are."
-- Chief Donald Sanipass

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Portrait of George Hardy

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 10:58:00 GMT

Portrait of George Hardy
Buy Now: $295.00

In this slice of Americana, we meet George Hardy, an elderly self-taught artist, living on the island of Deer Isle, Maine. Born on Deer Isle in 1917, Hardy has continued to live there ever since. After making a living as a mason, he began his career in folk art at the age of 60.

Isolated from art trends, with no formal training and only a seventh grade education, his work is concrete, raw and direct. His sculpture is very much a part of his environment. From his roughened hands come the energized versions of wooden porcupines, tigers, red foxes with alligator teeth, blue howling coyotes, seagulls and song birds; although, Hardy is authentic, he is keenly aware of the Maine mystique and learned how to package it well for his summer customers. His relationship to these people is of interest because they help to support his family and the continuation of his work.

Hardy's work follows a cyclical and seasonal rhythm. The film carefully blends the sense of the environment with the pace of the life and work presented. The music provided by banjo player Ross Greenlaw and fiddler Rob McCall (both of Blue Hill, Maine) plays a pivotal role in the structure of the film.

The filmmaker, who is also a Maine native, creates a very expressive mix of black & white as well as color film and video footage to tell this story. The film provides points of discussion for the study of American folk art and music and the environments that produce them.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Cine Golden Eagle Award, 1995

US Super-8 Video Festival, 1995

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American Fair

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 13:30:00 GMT

American Fair
Buy Now: $320.00

American Fair is an intimate study of the hard-working farmers of York County, Maine, facing a vanishing way of life, their knowledge of land and beast, commitment to tradition and community, interdependent and pulling together.

At the 140th fair in Acton, farmers congregate in the spirit of both co-operation and rivalry. Families show off their finest handicrafts, agricultural produce and livestock. Teamsters compete to see whose animal is the strongest and whose daughter the most beautiful. Through the voices of farmers and townspeople, vendors and carnival workers, a portrait of a community joining together in celebration of the honest, hard-working agricultural traditions of the region is revealed. Fathers and sons, knowledge of land and beast, carnival workers and strange stories, country girls, ox-pulling, dairy showing, beauty pageants, a pig scramble and more!

This feature-length ethnographic documentary quietly reveals the agricultural heritage of the region and opens our eyes to a wholesome side of American culture—as people of the earth.Check out the American Fair blog at americanfair.blogspot.com.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

International Festival of Ethnological Film, Belgrade, Serbia, 2007

Quebec International Ethnographic Film Festival, Canada, 2008

Society for Visual Anthropology/American Anthropological Association Conference, San Francisco, 2008

Broadcast, Maine Public Television

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