July 11, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Northern Arizona University and The University of Arizona have collaborated to create a five-day film festival celebrating Indigenous world cinema. The inaugural Flagstaff Red Screen Film Festival includes the Arizona premiere of Indigenous-produced or -focused films from Canada, Australia, Scandinavia and the U.S., post-screening discussions, appearances and talks by film industry professionals and spotlights on influential figures and films. The festival will take place July 24-28 at the Harkins Theatres Flagstaff 16 and the Museum of Northern Arizona. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Red Screen Festival co-director and NAU librarian Shepherd Tsosie<\/strong> (Din\u00e9) said NAU was eager to partner on the festival as part of its mission to become to leading institution serving Native Americans and because it saw the need for a venue in northern Arizona, specifically, to host Native American and Indigenous cinema. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFilm has the potential to reach and communicate to a broad audience; Native American and Indigenous filmmakers have done just that with their incredible storytelling abilities,\u201d Tsosie said. \u201cThe Red Screen Film Festival showcases these stories and seeks to bring about deeper understanding and awareness of the lived experiences of Native and Indigenous peoples around the world. Flagstaff provides a relevant venue for displaying these stories and lends to a culturally rich experience for students of NAU and for the broader Flagstaff and northern Arizona communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The festival\u2014proposed by Vicky Westover, director of the UA Hanson FilmTV Institute\u2014was a natural expansion for Tsosie, who works at Cline Library and hosts annual Native and Indigenous film series. To offer a broader film selection to larger audiences, Cline and the UA Hanson FilmTV Institute are co-presenting The Red Screen Film Festival. Since October, Tsosie and Westover have worked together to make the festival a reality with the help of several lead sponsors, including NAU\u2019s College of Arts and Letters, the UA College of Fine Arts, NAU Office of the President and the UA School of Theatre, Film & Television. Additional support has been provided by the Museum of Northern Arizona, NAU’s Native American Cultural Center, NAU’s Department of Comparative Cultural Studies and the NAU Office of Native American Initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor Native filmmakers and audiences alike, the opportunity\nfor films like this to be seen is a really important way of building a sense of\ncommunity, especially when there are so few Native voices reflected in\nmainstream media,\u201d said David Church<\/strong>,\nlecturer of comparative cultural studies. \u201cThe department is very pleased to\nhelp out with this initiative that benefits NAU\u2019s strategic goal of outreach to\nNative Americans and helps bring a wider range of Native voices to local\nscreens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Church sits on the festival committee with fellow department lecturer David Gray<\/strong> and former tribal leader Octaviana Trujillo<\/strong> (Yaqui), who also is founding chair and professor of the Department of Applied Indigenous Studies. Trujillo will lead a number of post-screening discussions throughout the festival. Church said he and Gray offered their documentary cinema expertise when screening entries for the festival but respected the limits of their perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was very important to us that we were only a few of the voices on the programming committee since an Indigenous film festival should be primarily programmed by and for Indigenous peoples themselves.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The resulting selection is a showcase of Indigenous film\nspanning genres and formats from both established and up-and-coming filmmakers\nthroughout the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emmy-nominated director Sydney Freeland (Din\u00e9) will be spotlighted\nwith an encore screening of her first feature film \u201cDrunktown\u2019s Finest,\u201d a\ndrama focusing on the lives and struggles of three Navajo youth. \u201cSGaawaay\nK\u2019uuna\/Edge of the Knife\u201d will make its Arizona premiere at the festival. Gwaii\nEdenshaw (Haida) and Helen Haig-Brown (Tsilhqot\u2019in) directed the feature film, which\nis the first to use dialogue spoken entirely in dialects of Haida, an\nendangered language spoken by fewer than 30 people in the world. Freelance\nfilmmaker Dustinn Craig (White Mountain Apache\/Navajo) will discuss his\nexperiences in the film and television industry in the presented talk\n\u201cIndigenous Storytelling and Self-Representation.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The festival also includes a tribute to late filmmaker and\nFlagstaff local Jake Hoyungowa (Din\u00e9\/Hopi). Words of remembrance will be\nfollowed by a screening of the short film \u201cThe Adventures of Jake \u2018Hepwesa\u2019\nHoyungowa.\u201d Additionally, a Focus on Navajo Filmmakers will show a series of\ncontemporary short films that tell the Native American narrative in authentic,\ndiverse voices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy hope with this film festival is that the films, because\nthey depict a realistic view into the lived experiences of contemporary Native\nAmerican and Indigenous peoples, allow the audience to leave with a deeper,\nmore accurate understanding of our lives and who we are,\u201d Tsosie said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Festival Schedule<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n July 24, 7 p.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n July 25, 7 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n July 26, 7 p.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n July 27<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11 a.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 p.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 7 p.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n July 28 <\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 p.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 p.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Flagstaff Red Screen Film Festival is free and open to\nthe public. Seating will be available to ticket holders on a first-come,\nfirst-served basis. Ticket holders will be given priority over non-ticket\nholders, but a ticket does not guarantee entry. All films will be screened at\nthe Harkins Theatres Flagstaff 16 at 4751 E. Marketplace Dr. The presented talk\nis the only festival event taking place at a different location: The Museum of\nNorthern Arizona at 3103 N. Fort Valley Road. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Free tickets, a full event lineup and more information can\nbe found on the event web page<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"