American Indian Film Festival to feature appearances by noted Native American actor and filmmakers

BELLEVUE, WASH.– Bellevue Community College’s fourth annual American Indian Film Festival, a free event scheduled for April 12-14, will feature nine films and documentaries plus appearances by seven noted Native American film artists.

Actor Gary Farmer, filmmakers Heather Rae, Frank Blythe and Phil Lucas, University of Washington Native Voices filmmakers Rachel Nez and Alicia Woods and hip-hop artist/filmmaker Redskin all will appear in person to discuss their works presented at the festival.

The event will also include a panel discussion titled, “The Canoe Journey and Native Youth,” and a demonstration and discussion of the art of canoe-building, canoe handling and the Native America canoe journey.

The three-day festival is free and open to the public. A $10 donation is suggested, with proceeds going to the BCC First Nations Student Association.

Most festival events will take place in Carlson Theatre and the C Building on the BCC main campus (3000 Landerholm Circle, S.E., Bellevue – off 148th Ave. S.E.). The Friday evening presentation of Trudell, however, will be at the Kirkland Performance Center (350 Kirkland Ave, Kirkland).

Specific campus locations for each presentation will be posted on-line at: http://facweb.bcc.ctc.edu/llum/AIFF2006/index2006.htm.

Presented by the Bellevue Community College Diversity Caucus, the American Indian Film Festival receives sponsorship support from the Squaxin Tribe, the Muckleshoot Tribe, the BCC TRiO Program, BCC’s Campus Activities Board, the Kirkland Performance Center and the Bellevue Community College Foundation.

A full schedule of festival events follows:

Wednesday, April 12, 2006
10:30 a.m.	Opening Ceremony with Snoqualmie Drum Group
10:40 a.m.	*Voyage of Rediscovery* (1990). A television documentary on Frank Brown, a Heiltsuk Native American from Bella Bella, British Columbia, who was banished for his crime. Phil Lucas, who produced, directed and wrote the documentary, will introduce the presentation.
11:30 a.m.	Panel Discussion: “The Canoe Journey and Native Youth,” featuring Frank Brown, subject of the documentary Voyage of Rediscovery, along with Seattle Schools Native American Program Manager and Muckleshoot canoe skipper Willard Bill Jr., and John Mullen, skipper of the Snoqualmie canoe.
12:30 p.m.	*Pulling Together* (2005). A feature documentary on the 2003 canoe journey of the Muckleshoot Canoe Family.
2:30 p.m.	“Canoes.” A demonstration and discussion of canoe building, canoe handling and the canoe journey, by Shaun Peterson, Joe Gobin and Jason Gobin.
4:30 p.m.	Native American hip-hop artist/filmmaker Redskin will present and discuss the music videos, Sunny Days and The General. Sunny Days debuted last year at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco.
7:30 p.m.	*Spiral of Fire* (2006). Part of the Indian Country Diaries series to be broadcast on PBS this fall, Spiral of Fire follows author and historian LeAnne Howe (Choctaw) to the North Carolina homeland of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, where she explores their fusion of tourism, cultural preservation and spirituality. Executive Producer Frank Blythe (Eastern Cherokee) will introduce the film and discuss it afterwards.
9:00 p.m.	“Frank Blythe talks.” Filmmaker Frank Blythe discusses his film, Spiral of Fire. Blythe is the Executive Director of the non-profit corporation, Native American Public Telecommunications, where he manages the production and distribution of American Indian films, videos and radio programming to the Public Broadcasting System and the American Indian Radio On Satellite Network.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
10:30 a.m.	*A Seat at the Drum* (2006). Journalist and playwright Mark Anthony Rolo (Bad River Ojibwe) documents how Native Americans in Los Angeles preserve a tribal identity, survive economically and cope with the pressures of assimilation in a challenging metropolis. Part of the Indian Country Diaries series to be broadcast on PBS this fall. Filmmaker Frank Blythe will answer questions after the film.
12:30 p.m.	“Gary Farmer talks.” Actor, cultural activist, musician and filmmaker Gary Farmer (Cayuga) is widely recognized as a pioneer in the development of First Nations media. Farmer has been featured in groundbreaking leading roles including Philbert Bono in Powwow Highway and Arnold Joseph in Smoke Signals.
1:30 p.m.	*American Red and Black: Stories of Afro-Native Identity* (2006), with discussion by filmmaker Alicia Woods. This moving documentary follows Vella, a self-identified African-American, as she researches and reflects on her Native American heritage.
2:30 p.m.	*The Border Crossed Us* (2005), with discussion by producer Rachael Nez. A powerful film telling the story of the Tohono O’odham people and their struggles along the U.S.–Mexican border.
3:30 p.m.	*Dead Man* (1996). Lost and badly wounded in the American west of the late 1800s, William Blake (played by Johnny Depp) encounters an odd, outcast Native American named Nobody (played by Gary Farmer), who believes Blake is actually the dead English poet. Nobody leads Blake through situations that are in turn comical and violent, transforming Blake into a hunted outlaw, a killer and a man whose physical existence is slowly slipping away.
5:30 p.m.	*Usual and Accus tomed Places* (2000). This account of Pacific Northwest tribes' century-long struggle to uphold their fishing rights focuses on the history of the Makah Nation of Washington state.
7:30 p.m.	*Disappearances* (2006). Based on the award-winning novel by Howard Frank Mosher, Disappearances is a spellbinding tale of high-stakes whiskey-smuggling, a family's mysterious past and a young boy’s rite of passage. Kris Kristofferson and Gary Farmer star.
Friday, April 14, 2006
10:30 a.m.	*Trudell* (2005). Debuted at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and released to theaters by Miramax in February 2006, filmmaker Heather Rae’s Trudell portrays the passionate, painful and multi-dimensional life of John Trudell (Dakota), who went from being a spokesperson for the Indians of All Tribes occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1968, to chairman of the American Indian Movement in the turbulent 1970’s, to internationally recognized poet, recording artist and actor in the 1980’s and 90’s.
12:30 p.m.	“Heather Rae talks.” Director of the Native American Program for the Sundance Institute from 1995 to 2001, filmmaker Heather Rae (Cherokee) has nurtured the work of more than 50 emerging Native American screenwriters and filmmakers. She has also worked to develop the field of Native American filmmaking through her work with Akatubi Entertainment's Film and Music Program on reservations throughout the west. In 2005 she premiered Trudell, which she directed, at the Sundance Film Festival.
2:30 p.m.	Potluck luncheon
7:30 p.m.	*Trudell* (2005). Presentation to be at Kirkland Performance Center. A second showing of the film by Heather Rae, which is currently in theaters. Trudell portrays the passionate, painful and multi-dimensional life of John Trudell (Dakota).

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