Spring 2024 FNFVF
Spring 2024 Edition of the First Nations Film and Video Festival runs May 2 - 8, 2024.
NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
Angelina Pedroso Center for Diversity and Intercultural Affairs
5500 North St. Louis Avenue
THURSDAY, MAY 2, 6:30pm
Lets Get Stronger Together (20:13)
Awicha (16:37)
Living for Others (14:56)
The Politics (12:08)
Ozigwan (7:35)
Small Talk (3:46)
Total: 1:11:29
COMFORT STATION NOTE DATE CHANGE!
2579 N Milwaukee Ave
MONDAY, MAY 6, 8:00pm
Small Talk (3:46)
Ava Kuña, Aty Kuña: indigenous woman, political woman (25:00)
Mankewenüy / Amiga del Cóndor (1:03:48)
LA ULTIMA MOLA (Mor nabbi duggugi yolesad) (5:13)
Love Don't Bully (No Bloopers) (5:00)
Rosengold (13:04)
Total: 1:55:51
EVANSTON PUB LIBRARY
1703 Orrington Ave, Evanston, IL
FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 2:00pm
The Secret Love Of Nor A Miao (0:31)
Small Talk (3:46)
Living for Others (14:56)
Memoria de un pez (14:00)
LA ULTIMA MOLA (Mor nabbi duggugi yolesad) (5:13)
Kintohpatatin(Justice)-Chéng誠(Honesty)(Hui/Baedak,'24) (5:59)
Water, Star Medicine (with 15% NASA footage) (10:00)
The Electric Indian (57:00)
Total: 1:50:54
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SPRING 2024 FNFVF FILMS:
The Secret Love Of Nor A Miao (00:31)
This film is about how significance of identity implies meaning in filmmaking. The director has suffered from fraud and amnesia, so that her identity has been exploited both intentionally and unintentionally. The director does not find a thrill in secrets and thinks that her concept of aesthetics and beauty is good and should not have been diverted away from her own life and reputation as an artist. This diversion of identity has affected not only public comprehension of what she is about as a human being but it has separated her original family from the meaning of her life, without her will being involved. The disjointedness of the Kamloops survival experience comes into play as the director struggles to recover. The director loved the family that she was brutally taken away from very much and she has not been "allowed". This film could almost be entitled "the Secret Vision of an Object: since the director feels that she has been that restricted by the objectification that went along with the Kamloops experience.
This is a new film about architecture, music and the cosmos with how amnesia does continue relate to memory through horoscope. This film includes original and genuine footage of a meteor shower, as well as other images that images that depict concepts of flight, time and microcosm within macrocosm. There are clouds in the sky. Were there movies in prehistoric times? The director remembers that long ago she had been confused from being told that plastics are always new. There had been antiques made of plastic in her home that were hand blown of sand with oil. People tried to trick her to take things away that were part of her personal identity. What if there were ancient films? We had Super 8. Maybe we also had sand and oil with some minerals. There are stars in the sky.
Elizabeth A Kennedy (Tlingit and Seneca)
The Electric Indian (57:00)
Hockey legend Henry Boucha journeys from early stardom to crushing defeat to healing.
Leya Hale (Director): Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota
LA ULTIMA MOLA (Mor nabbi duggugi yolesad)(05:13)
BURSOB is the last indigenous woman of her ethnic group. After almost all of humanity became extinct due to a strange disease, she made a trip to her region that had also disappeared. Upon arrival she decides to dress in the last garment of her indigenous culture. A mole from her grandmother.
BURSOB es la ùltima mujer indígena de su ètnia. Luego de casi extinguirse toda la humanidad por un extraña enfermedad realiza un viaje a su comarca que también a desaparecido. Al llegar decide vestirse con la ùltima prenda de su cultura indígena. Una mola de su abuela.
Ornel Alvarado, Roberto Villafane (Guna)
Memoria de un pez (14:00)
Mario a forty-year-old man, is recovering in a hospital room after having tried to end his life. There he meets Andrea, a little girl who does not want to continue her medical treatment and just wants to escape with Pepe, her fish. Mario personal childhood story is intertwined with the lake where Andrea wants to take Pepe. But not only Mario and Andrea will have to reach the lake, they will also have to discover and forgive their human limitations in order to transform and see their loved ones.
Pato Alfaro Rivera, Cesar Alfaro (Nayarit - México)
AWICHA (Grandmother) (16:37)
The plot unfolds in two timelines, intertwining the life of Melchor, a child in the ancestral community of Sampaya, and his adult life as a baker in the city. Melchor is the last baker of his community, and his grandfather, also a baker in his time, passes down to him the ancestral secrets of the trade. In the past, we see Melchor's grandfather kneading bread in the community oven while experiencing mysterious visions. The grandfather teaches him the importance of connecting with their ancestors. In the present day, adult Melchor faces migraines and strange hallucinations in his bakery. Melchor finds himself in conflict against an unknown horror that only he and his grandfather know. He decides to stop worshiping this entity and rebels, paying with his life for this brave revelation.
Marcelo Javier Ajpi (HUARI) (Aymara)
Kintohpatatin(Justice)-Chéng誠(Honesty)(Hui/Baedak,'24)
Commissioned by TMU CERC in Migration & Integration #WhereWeStand Project 00:05:59 Synopsis: “Kintohpatatin(Justice)-Chéng誠(Honesty)” is a collaborative Indigenous-settler co-created short film borne out of friendship, respect, understanding, and trust. Through juxtaposing stunning natural and experimental split-screen visuals, auto-biographical haikus and reflections on Indigenous natural law, we explore principles of honesty and justice amidst the realities that impact our lives as Indigenous and migrant peoples on Turtle Island. We invite viewers to examine their stance on past, current and future Indigenous-settler relationality.
Logline: Co-created through textural auto-biographical haikus and justice-seeking storytelling, "Kintohpatatin(Justice)-Chéng誠(Honesty)" compels viewers to examine Indigenous-settler relations encompassing the historical, relational, socio-legal, political, environmental and the self. Audio and Visual Treatment: This collaborative visual bricolage offers stunning natural and experimental visuals and split-screens, which are paired with Indigenous drumming by Baedek, which signifies the heartbeat amongst many Indigenous communities, and original composition by Stephen Laing.
Christian Hui, Andrea Baedak (Maskekon Cree-Michif)
Rosengold (13:04)
A story of two big name execs looking to find a new host/hosts for their show which has been on the decline as of late, coming across two superstars with a show that's already been built up, by the name of. "Rosengold". These superstars are International King (Sebastion Ross) and Dr Ross (Sienna Ross). Will they be the talent their looking for, or just yet another fluke? "Written, produced, directed, filmed, & edited all in one week by Sienna & Sebastion Ross"
Sienna Ross, Sebastion Ross (Cherokee)
Mankewenüy / Amiga del Cóndor (1:03:48)
Maria Manzanares María (Mapuche)
The Politics (12:08)
Lamenting her loss of community, a travelling Métis Woman encounters two unknown and bizarre personality in a lonely bus station.
Len Morissette (Mistawasis First Nation)
Ozigwan (Tail of Serpent) (7:35)
A grandmother-grandson fishing trip unleashes the serpent people living at the bottom of the lake.
Cole Stevens (Nipissing First Nation)
Water, Star Medicine (10 minute version with 15% NASA footage) (10:00)
Dr. Lisa Spencer assigns her Santa Fe middle school students the study of water. They traveled to sites to explore the Rio Grande, drought in New Mexico, and farming in the desert by early Pueblo peoples. Interviews were conducted that include the research of New Zealand Māori Scientist, Veda Austin. This film also explores water beyond the science realm to include the emotional, historic, and spiritual power of water. It also explores water being from outer space, perhaps from asteroids, and the study of water on Mars. About 10% of the footage is from various NASA stock footage. This film won Audience Choice Award for middle school films in New Mexico.
MESA/ Turquoise Trail Middle School Students (Apache, Hopi, Puebloan, Diné, Yu'pik)
Love Don't Bully (no bloopers) (5:00)
MESA/ Turquoise Trail Middle School Students (Apache, Hopi, Puebloan, Diné, Yu'pik)
Ava Kuña, Aty Kuña: indigenous woman, political woman (25:00)
Ava Kuña, Aty Kuña; indigenous woman, political woman is a poetic approach to indigenous Brazilian women's political resilience. A portrait of the Kuñangue Aty Guasu, an assembly of Guarani Kaiowá women, the short documentary mixes the impressions of a white woman with an originary woman's explanations about this meeting.
Julia Zulian, Fabiane Medina, Guilherme Sai (Kaiowá Guarani)
Let's get Stronger Together - Juntos nos fortaleceremos (20:13)
In 2019, a new government set foot in Brasilia promoting the dismantling of rights and encouraging the occupation of indigenous territories by miners and agribusiness. At the same time, indigenous peoples from different peoples of Brazil mobilized and occupied the roads, streets and avenues, resisting and claiming their right to exist and to their territories, promoting the largest indigenous demonstrations in the world, such as the 2022 Terra Livre Camp. This film shows the strength of these mobilizations, in which the collective body of the original peoples acts transforming mourning into struggle, resisting together to strengthen their traditions and ways of existing.
Cristian Cancino (Mapuche)
Small Talk (3:46)
A music video for the song Small Talk, from the debut album of the same name by Copeland James.
Simone Hile-Bassett (Anishinaabe: Fond du Lac Band of Minnesota Chippewa)
Living for Others (14:56)
Told in a nonlinear order, a woman about to move to Berlin for her husband's work has a bizarre nightmare, and meets a stranger with an eerily similar experience.
Simone Hile-Bassett (Anishinaabe: Fond du Lac Band of Minnesota Chippewa)
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Duke University Screening
Duke University Screening
FNFVF will be screening a 90 minute short film program at the Rubenstain Arts Center Film Theater at Duke University on Saturday April 13 at 2pm.
Sponsored by Duke Native American Studies Initiative and Duke Conematic Arts. This event is Free and open to the Public.
Film Program Includes:
Canoe Connections (2023)
Directed by Reeva Billy [Squamish Nation (Canada, West Coast)]
4:25
An essential element of maintaining culture in First Nations communities is nurturing the practice of knowledge keepers passing on their cultural wisdom. For the Canoe Cultures program in Vancouver Canada, an Indigenous-lead non-profit carving centre, Mike Billy Sr. and Jr. are an example of the transference of knowledge from one generation of Squamish Nation War Canoe builder to the next. In this short film they both share their experiences of passing and receiving the torch and the future they imagine that keeping this legacy alive can bring. Through this age-old tradition the uninterrupted connection between ancestors and the present generation is maintained and flourishes.
katatjanik utippalianinga (The Return of Throat Singing) (2015)
Co-directed by Caroline Nochasak, Heather Angnatok, Jason Dicker, Jennifer Semigak, Joshua Jararuse, Matmatil Angnatok, Maxwell Saksagiak, Nancy Nochasak, Sarah Semigak Lidd, Jenn Brown, Troy Maher [Inuit]
7:00 min
The community of Nain in northern Labrador is rich with breathtaking landscapes and people with a strong storytelling history. Created through the St. John's International Women's Film Festival's FRAMED film educations series, in partnership with the Nunatsiavut Government, this film explores throat singing- a special talent and traditional game for both fun and public entertainment, which was nearly destroyed but has since been revived.
We Make Stories Out of Totem Poles (2015)
Directed by Sean Stiller, Patricia Marcoccia [Shuswap (Secwepemc) Nation]
8:09 min
The Kwakwak’wakw First Nation of Vancouver Island is recognized internationally for its rich history of art and expert craftsmanship. The long-lasting effects of residential schools left many carvers disconnected from the meanings and stories behind traditional carvings. This short film opens a window into the world of Charles Joseph, a residential school survivor and a rare master carver in the community that still knows the stories.
JAAT SDIIHLYL'LXA Woman Who Returns (2016)
Directed by Heather Hatch [Haida Gwaii]
10:00 min
Heather didn't know she was Haida until she was 16. Now, she's returning to Haida Gwaii to join her clan and receive her Haida name.
Jane & the Wolf (2016)
Directed by Nadine Arpin [Red River Michif]
9:45 min
In the 1960s, Pagwa River was a booming railroad town populated by 2nd generation Crees. During one cold winter, the community was being stalked by a lone wolf. Every attempt to kill the wolf failed. Jane recognized the wolf as a spirit sign from the ancestors. Ridiculed for her beliefs, Jane set out alone to killing the wolf using the old ways.
Narrated by Jane’s Great Granddaughter Rachel Garrick, Jane’s story is interwoven with Rachel’s own journey to bring her mother Minnie Garrick to her final resting place. Minnie was a story teller, a surviver, and a woman who reclaimed her life despite many personal challenges. Minnie had passed on the story of Jane to Rachel at a time in her life when Rachel most needed to hear about the strength that is inherent in their family.
Light (2017)
Directed by Sarah Hennigan [Cherokee]
14:55min
A gifted young woman launches into the darkness to find a way to save her people. What she uncovers, nobody expected.
Darkness takes the world, with only around 10 minutes of light left each day. Humanity is dying. A gifted young woman is sent out into the darkness in a last-ditch effort to find a lifeline. If she returns empty-handed, or without the guard sent out with her to document the findings, she’ll be left to the darkness, and whatever lies within. A 21st-Century reinterpretation of a Cherokee oral story.
The Handsome Man (2022)
Directed by Misty Shipman and Hope Shipman [Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe (both directors, sisters, are enrolled)]
15:34 min
When River meets a stranger who calls himself "The Handsome Man," on the borders of her reservation, she invites him home, and all manner of commotion ensues. Can Grandpa restore balance to the family and heal a generations' old curse?
Image from “In Our Own Hands”
In Our Own Hands (2021)
Directed by Jennifer Varenchik [Tohono O'odham]
11:00 min
A group of women plan rescue efforts when one of their own goes missing from their reservation.
Visit the Rubenstein Arts Center Website for more info.
"Hey Viktor!" Closing Program- Fall 2023 FNFVF (CHICAGO PREMEIRE!)
The Fall 2023 edition of the First Nations Film and Video Festival closes with the Chicago debut of Cody Lightning's "Hey Viktor!", fresh from the Tribecca Film Festival, at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N Southport Ave, on Friday, November 10, 2023 at 7:00pm.
EventBrite tickets are required for entry.
From the Tribecca Film Festival website:
"It’s been 25 years since all eyes were on the Cree kid from Edmonton who made it big with a starring role in the indie hit Smoke Signals. Now grown up, former child actor Cody Lightning is deep in the bottle and down on his luck, basking in past glories via faded VHS tapes and endlessly rewriting zombie-priest scripts with creative partner Kate (Hannah Cheesman). When his friends stage an intervention, Cody seizes the moment — and camera crew — to take one last shot at producing Smoke Signals 2. With backing from a psycho investor and in hot pursuit of Adam Beach’s wig to tie the film together, Lightning’s deliriously dysfunctional set becomes a mess of unresolved tension and self-destruction, leading to a long-overdue reckoning with the community that raised him.
Unapologetic and unafraid to milk sacred cows, Hey Viktor! is an irreverent comedy that’s as smart as it is raunchy, and marks the arrival of a major comedic voice in Native cinema. With rich supporting turns from Irene Bedard, Gary Farmer, and Simon Baker, Lightning strikes a balance between riffing on the work of a previous generation and the importance of community."––Cedar Sherbert
Official synopsis: (Language warning)
Twenty years removed from childhood fame as Little Viktor in 1998’s Smoke Signals, CODY LIGHTNING has been forced to move home to his reserve in northern Alberta. He still believes himself to be famous— even though the only parts he gets these days are porn & fracking commercials. But when Cody learns his wife and kids are leaving him for a younger, more successful actor, he decides it’s time to quit fucking around and make his masterpiece— writing, directing, & starring in SMOKE SIGNALS 2: STILL SMOKING. A documentary crew follows Cody on his journey around the Indigenous world— re-uniting the original cast, borrowing money from arms dealers, & realizing his vision... just in time to realize his vision was shit.
So, this film will be a trip. We hope that you can join FNFVF Inc in presenting this brand new feature to Chicago audiences!
LIMITED SEATING AVAILABLE! Ticket link goes live on OCT 1st!
Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you there!
Featured Film: “Hey Viktor!” Clip
Fall 2023 FNFVF
Join us for our Fall program from November 1st through November 10th.
Beginning November 1, 2023, the fall edition of the First Nations Film and Video Festival will open at an exclusive venue and run through November 10th at various venues across Chicagoland. Venues include:
"Bones of Crows" Opening Program- Fall 2023 FNFVF
The Fall 2023 edition of the First Nations Film and Video Festival open with Marie Clements feature film "Bones of Crows" at Facets, 1517 W Fullerton Ave on Wednesday, November 1, 2023 at 7:00pm.
EventBrite tickets are required for entry.
"Bones of Crows" is a multi-generational epic and story of resilience told through the eyes of Cree Matriarch Aline Spears (played by Summer Testawich; Grace Dove, Monkey Beach; and Carla Rae, Rutherford Falls). Removed from their family home and forced into Canada’s residential school system, young musical prodigy Aline and her siblings are plunged into a struggle for survival. Over the next hundred years, Aline and her descendants fight against systemic starvation, racism and sexual abuse—and to build a more just future.
A sweeping drama grounded in historical truth, Bones of Crows weaves together underrepresented moments in Canadian and Indigenous history, including the Indigenous contributions to WW2, the ongoing cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Aline’s story enriches our understanding of the past and empowers us to address our collective future.
Join us for a post-screening reception sponsored by the Canadian Consulate in Chicago and catered by Ketapanen Kitchen.
Online Panel Discussion: "The Conquer's Remorse - Part I: Exploting Native Grief"
“The Conqueror's Remorse? Part One":
Natives on Non-Native Directors Exploiting Native Grief
The Revisionist Westerns, the Environmentalist Messengers, the Poverty Saints, the Addiction Narratives, the Casino Corrupted, the Vanished, and the exploitation of such tropes. Indigenous filmmakers discuss the expectation non-Native filmmakers have of the communities they film and use for the promotion of their own works and elevation of their own voice above the communities that they exploit.
Join us via Zoom for this FREE PROGRAM.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87815514705?pwd=zikxmCeUCB4Vt9ysoL2RqENSvJRHie.1
Meeting ID: 878 1551 4705
Passcode: FNFVFPanel
Scheduled Panelist include:
ZOOM Details will be posted here and on the Facebook Event Page on Saturday, October 28th.
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