The Native American Film Series for spring 2021 will include discussion forums focusing on historic, contemporary, and unheeded issues facing Indigenous peoples.
This opportunity is open to any interested member of the Illinois State University community. Participants will need to register here for the discussions. Films will be screened independently, and are available through Kanopy. Discussions will surround the issues raised in each film and today’s implications.
Upcoming films:
Finding Dawn: Missing First Nations Women and the Highway of Tears
Directed by Christine Welsh, the 2006 documentary gives a human face to the dark heart of Native women’s experience in Canada where more than 500 Aboriginal women have gone missing or been murdered over the past 30 years.
Kanopy link: https://illstu.kanopy.com/video/finding-dawn
Discussion: Monday, April 19, 4-5:30 p.m.
This film series is sponsored by Student Counseling Services’ Multicultural Outreach Team, the School of Theatre and Dance, Native American Studies, Ethnic Studies, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, the Department of History, and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
Past films inlcude:
The Cherokee Word for Water
Directed by Charlie Soap and Tim Kelly, the 2013 film follows the work that led Wilma Mankiller to become the first modern female Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
Kanopy link: https://illstu.kanopy.com/video/cherokee-word-water
Discussion: Tuesday, February 23, from 4-5:30 p.m. NOTE: This is a new time, rescheduled due to a weather closure.
Gather
Directed by Sanjay Rawal, the 2020 film provides an intimate portrait of a growing movement among Indigenous Americans to reclaim spiritual and cultural identities through obtaining sovereignty over their ancestral food systems, while battling against the historical trauma brought on by centuries of genocide.
Kanopy link: https://illstu.kanopy.com/video/gather
Discussion: Thursday, March 18, 4-5:30 p.m.
