Native Film Series Set for Today & Tomorrow in Mt. Pleasant

Native News Network Staff in Entertainment. Discussion »

Older Than America

MT. PLEASANT, MICHIGAN - The Ziibiwing Center, which is owned and operated by the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, based in Mt. Pleasant, and Central Michigan University are co-sponsoring a film series today and tomorrow.

The two day film series is about the American Indian boarding school and Canadian residential school eras and their impacts. Each co-sponsor will host two films each on their venues.

Today, Central Michigan University will host the following two films at the Bovee Auditorium:

A Windigo Tale

1:32mins at 1:00 pm

Filmed on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario and in the Ottawa Valley, "A Windigo Tale" is Ojibway poet Armand Garnet Ruffo's directorial debut. Produced on a shoestring budget, in demanding conditions, the film ignites the screen with determination and heart and tells a powerful story of intergenerational trauma and healing.

Shot in HD, Ruffo's feature length film moves between the breathtaking beauty of a road trip in autumn and the stark winter landscape of a First Nations community. Harold, a Native grandfather (Gary Farmer), desperate to save his troubled grandson Curtis (Elliot Simon) from a life on the street, shares the dark secrets of their family and community. In an isolated village, an estranged mother, Doris (Jani Lauzon), and daughter, Lily (Andrea Menard), must reunite to exorcise the voracious Windigo spirit tied to a painful past. Inspired by Ojibway spirituality and based on the history of the residential school system, where generations of Native children were forcibly removed from their families and aggressively assimilated into Euro-Canadian society, "A Windigo Tale" is both a chilling and redeeming drama.

Fallen Feather

94 minutes at 3:00 pm

The "Fallen Feather" provides an in-depth critical analysis of the driving forces behind the creation of Canadian Indian Residential Schools. Using historical source documents, survivors' personal testimonies and detailed analysis from community leaders, the film explores in detail, the Federal Governments primary motivation in the creation of these Schools. While examining the influences of Indian wars, Sir John A MacDonald's National Policy, Land Claims issues, the film details how all of these events and visions contributed to the development of these Schools. The film argues that the lasting effects that First Nations in Canada suffer today, can be traced back directly to their experiences within these schools. Finally, we as Canadians are all challenge to re-examine our shared history.

Saturday's two films will be shown at the Ziibiwing Center:

Indian School

60 minutes at 3:00 pm

"Indian School" is a documentary featuring interviews from survivors and survivor descendants from the Mt. Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School. This film was produced in 2010-2011 by the Detroit American Indian Services.

Older Than America

1:41 minutes at 4:30 pm

Originally released in 2008, the film explores and highlights the impact of the "culture-killing" effects of the typical Native American experience of US sponsored boarding schools in the 1900s and other inter-social relationships between the Native American people and the dominant European based American culture. The film also suggests ways for Native Americans to regain their own cultural identities.

"Older Than America" cast includes: Dennis Banks, Ojibwe; Adam Beach, Sautleaux; Tantoo Cardinal, Cree; Georgina Lightening, Cree and Wes Studi, Cherokee.

posted February 17, 2012 10:40 am est