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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Lisa Falk (520) 626-2973; falk@email.arizona.edu
Vicky Westover (520) 626-9825; vwestove@email.arizona.edu
Georgina Lightning (818) 731-3700; glightning123@aol.com
Dustin and Velma Craig (480) 220-0796; Dustin@mac.com
Sterlin Harjo (424) 202-5063; kwan@firstlookstudio.com
Haunting Visions, Ghostly Voices and Modern Love from
Today's Best Native Filmmakers
TUCSON, Ariz.,
Nov. 4, 2008
- The University of Arizona
presents the fifth installment of Native Eyes Film Showcase - a
collaboration of the Arizona State
Museum, the Hanson Film Institute,
the College of Fine
Arts, the National
Museum of the American Indian, and
the Smithsonian Institution - Nov. 14-16 at Grand Cinemas Crossroads. Native
Eyes celebrates the creative, high-quality works of American Indian directors,
producers, writers and actors.
This year's showcase spans three days and includes three new
feature films, five shorts, and two short documentaries made by Tohono O'odham
youth. Screenings cost $4 and include provocative discussions with nationally
recognized filmmakers Georgina Lightning, Dustin Craig, Sterlin Harjo, Velma
Craig and Jon Proudstar. Fun visual storytelling activities will accompany
Saturday afternoon's screenings of shorts. Tickets will be available at the box
office beginning Nov. 12.
"The world of Native filmmakers has been steadily growing
since Sherman Alexie and Chris Eyre's ground breaking film "Smoke
Signals," says Vicky Westover, program director for the University
of Arizona Hanson Film Institute.
"The films in this year's Showcase, like Four Sheets to the Wind,
which screened competitively at Sundance and earned the lead actress an
award, deserve to be seen by diverse audiences who want to enjoy original,
well-made stories."
"The feature films bring mystery, suspense, anguish, ghosts,
lawyers, memories and love to the screen," says Lisa Falk, director of
education for Arizona State
Museum. "The shorts are
gentler, highlighting a horse, rain, skateboarders, identity and respect."
In addition, on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 15, a related free
family program at Arizona State
Museum - Culture Craft Saturday:
Pictures in Motion - will allow participants to explore different methods of
storytelling and learn what goes into movie making.
Culture Craft Saturday is a free-admission event from
1-4 p.m. at Arizona
State Museum.
Watch films, meet filmmakers and express your own stories. Under the direction
of filmmakers Dustin and Velma Craig, create your own movie storyboard and
flipbook; design a skateboard deck; and learn to tell stories by making Navajo
string figures. Teachers can earn up to three hours of professional
development credit at this free event! Featured films at Culture Craft
Saturday include: Benito's Gift; 4-Wheel War Pony; Horse You See; No
Boundaries and A Better Life.
Native Eyes Film Showcase
Fast Facts:
- Friday,
Nov. 14 - Screenings begin at 7 p.m.
Director Dustin Craig's 8-minute short film 4-Wheel War Pony shows
how skateboarding on the White Mountain Apache reservation links past
cultures with the present. Older Than America (102 minutes) by Cree
director Georgina Lightning tells the story of how haunting visions reveal
a Catholic priest's sinister plot to silence the truth about the
atrocities that took place at a Native American boarding school. Lightning
was named one of Filmmaker Magazine's "New Faces of Independent Film" in
2007.
- Saturday,
Nov. 15 - Screenings begin at 7 p.m. Director Velma Craig (Navajo)
presents Female Rain - a 2-minute short inspired by Navajo poet
Laura Tohe's meditation on rain. Director Dustin Craig screens a short
film, I Belong To This - the story of a young man's reflections on
raising his children in their Indian traditions and his own relationship
to his childhood community. In the 81-minute feature Four Sheets To The
Wind, director Sterlin Harjo (Creek/Seminole) tells the story of a
young Seminole Indian man dealing with his father's suicide, who sets out
on an offbeat journey of mourning and learning. Winner of the 2007
Sundance Special Jury prize.
- Sunday,
Nov. 15 - Matinee screenings begin at 2
p.m. Director Rick Romancito (Taos)
shows his short film Benito's Gift, the story of a young Pueblo
Indian boy who fulfills a special promise that helps bring his family
together. In Cheyenne/Arapho director Chris Eyre's feature-length film Imprint,
a controversial murder trial brings on strange visions and ghostly voices
that propel a prosecuting attorney into an unexpected journey.
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