The Storytelling Issue: In Depth
- These Native American Filmmakers Are Telling Their People’s Stories鈥擳heir Way
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Photo by Jack Storms.
These Native American Filmmakers Are Telling Their People’s Stories鈥擳heir Way
Longhouse 麻豆社事件 helps indigenous artists step behind the camera and document their lives.
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Jul 2, 2014
Great Native leaders appear to be overlooking contemporary Aztec dancers in a scene from Hummingbird, a short film that captures the spiritual power of ritual and tradition. The film was made by , an organization that aims to catalyze indigenous people and communities to use media as a tool for self-expression, cultural preservation, and social change.
Longhouse Executive Director Tracy Rector emphasizes the group’s mission to nurture Native artists who use both traditional and modern forms of storytelling: “Our stories define us. Indigenous people have the right to share their own experiences through their own lens.”
One of the ways Longhouse elevates Native stories is through a filmmaking project for tribal youth that is responsible for the acclaimed feature-length documentary March Point. Rector says the program has a positive impact for participants in many areas of their lives, such as academic success and overall self-esteem. Another program, the SuperFly Filmmaking Experience, a Longhouse and Seattle International Film Festival joint project, brings Native and non-Native youth together for filmmaking, storytelling, and cultural exchange.
Clearwater, a Longhouse documentary currently in production, shows how the Suquamish people, who have a strong relationship to the saltwater ecology of their home on Puget Sound, are responding to the environmental threat of ocean acidification.
Checkout this extended preview of Clearwater:
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