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"Of all the years, I've never been so excited," said Thomas Ethan Harris, programmer of the 7th Annual Festival of Native Film and Culture.
The event begins Wednesday and runs through Sunday at Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs.
Harris has sorted through over 300 submissions and proudly boasts of the festival's increased status.
"We are now officially one of the main stops on the native film festival circuit," said Harris. "The exciting news is that people are now finding us, which was not the case when I first started."
This year, the festival formerly known as the Native American Film Festival and Cultural Weekend is putting a new name on the marquee, reflective of a broader international perspective and focus on film.
"It's not that we needed to expand out," said Michael Hammond, Executive Director of the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum. "We are always trying to show the best films."
"It is still a very strongly Native American themed festival," said Harris. "But no matter where you go, all First People struggle."
Tkaronto director Shane Belcourt e-mailed from Banff, Alberta, "After seeing other native films from the U.S., Canada, Australia or New Zealand, it's safe to say there is a shared experience amongst Indigenous peoples. So many of the same themes, challenges and humor come through in the stories being told."
For his film, Peter Campbell united two artists in the same field from vastly different parts of the world: Papua New Guinea and British Columbia.
"I think (my film) Killer Whale and Crocodile speaks to the power of art to connect different cultures on a deep level," said Campbell via e-mail. "The water imagery is ever-present, and to bring that powerful element to the desert I think is very compelling."
First-time director Gwendolen Cates used art to communicate through her film, Water Flowing Together, about gay Navajo ballet dancer Jock Soto.
"I was drawn to film because I wanted to be able to tell a story at more length, in more depth," said Cates, a photographer who lives in New York. "And importantly, to allow people to speak for themselves."
"It is simply an extraordinary documentary and it is a film that has crossover potential," said Harris of Water.
Another documentary explores the life of America's first prima ballerina in Maria Tallchief.
"We have precious few role models for American Indian women and I wanted to help fill that void," e-mailed director Sandra Osawa. "Many like Maria Tallchief have made significant contributions to our life and culture, and such contributions should be acknowledged."
The message
Beyond entertainment alone, the festival raises awareness for each film's specific message.
"We see (our) film as a call to action in many ways," filmmakers George Gage and Beth Gage e-mailed from Telluride, Colo. "We feel the Palm Springs area may be fertile ground for support for the issues raised by our film."
Their film, Our Land, Our Life, examines the land rights of two Western Shoshone women in America as they struggle to continue their ranching tradition. Making its North American premiere at the festival, Herdswoman addresses the same topic in Sweden, as three reindeer herding women fight for migration rights and a claim to their heritage.
"We need to take part in each other's lives and experiences," director Kine Boman e-mailed from Varberg, Sweden. "It doesn't matter what culture, religion or social class you belong to. To reduce the prejudices and conflicts, we need to have the will to increase our knowledge and understanding."
Such awareness expands not only to societies outside of native communities but also attempts to promote pride in identity — a theme that permeates each film.
In the festival's only narrative films, the character in Four Sheets to the Wind steps outside of his comfort zone to deal with cultural ignorance and the characters in Tkaronto question the extent to which they represent their cultures.
Premiering in America on Friday, Tkaronto is "alive with what I think excites me most about Native American storytelling," said programmer Harris. "It is easily accessible to all people, but it also runs through the hearts of native people."
Moving beyond
Harris notes that Chris Eyre's 1998 film, Smoke Signals, has been held as the gold standard of Native American films, but after 10 years it is time to look beyond the seminal effort.
"If I was writing a book on Native American filmmaking, Tkaronto and Four Sheets to the Wind would be right in line with Smoke Signals," he said. Harris also notes that the reluctance of studios to finance native films results in a smaller selection.
"It is my dream for Native Americans and First People to have the opportunities to make narrative stories," said Harris. "It is also important that the world has a chance to see representations of First People on screen."
For a film that includes an impassioned speech about Aboriginal portrayals, Belcourt walked the walk by employing an 80 percent native cast and crew. "I absolutely wanted to have a close-to-as-possible all-Aboriginal crew on this film because of its subject matter and because I think we need to, as a community, create as many working opportunities as possible for each other," he said.
Harris recalled Charles Burnett, the African American director of Killer of Sheep, telling him, "Thomas, you have no idea what it was like to see Diana Ross and Billy Dee Williams kiss in (the 1972 film) Lady Sings the Blues," to which Harris responded, "Native Americans are still waiting."