RiverRun’s Films with Class Series to Present Free Screenings of “Dawnland”
“Indie Lens Pop-Up, presented by ITVS, “Independent Lens” and RiverRun International Film Festival will present free screenings of “Dawnland” on October 23 at 6 p.m. at the Forsyth County Central Library in Winston-Salem”
“Indie Lens Pop-Up, presented by ITVS, “Independent Lens” and RiverRun International Film Festival will present free screenings of “Dawnland” on October 23 at 6 p.m. at the Forsyth County Central Library in Winston-Salem and on October 24 at 6:30 p.m. at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the Bryan Building, Room 104. Both screenings are free and open the public and will be followed by a community discussion.
“Dawnland” shares the untold story of Indigenous child removal in the United States through the first government-endorsed truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) in the nation, tasked with investigating the devastating impact of Maine’s child welfare practices on Native American communities.”
Continue reading at WFDD.
ICTMN Exclusive: New Film Documents Maine’s Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission
“First Light, the new documentary film that explores the historic Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare TRC, is making its world debut today on ICTMN.”
“First Light, the new independent documentary film that explores the historic Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC), is making its world debut today on Indian Country Today Media Network. According to the film’s directors, Adam Mazo and Ben Pender-Cudlip, the short documentary film examines the historic collaboration between the five Wabanaki tribes and the state of Maine in response to the past abuses within the state’s child welfare system.
The first of its kind in U.S. History, the Maine TRC was established in 2012 in an agreement between Governor Paul LePage and chiefs from the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians, the Penobscot Indian Nation, and the Passamaquoddy at Sipayik and Indian Township.”
Continue reading at Indian Country Today.
Woods Hole Film Festival is a wrap
Dawnland was a big winner at The Woods Hole Film Festival, taking home the Jury Award for best documentary.
“The Woods Hole Film Festival wrapped up recently after yet another year of movie premieres and panels. More than 100 filmmakers and over 6,000 audience members attended the 27th annual festival.
Among the big winners was “Dawnland,” which won the Jury Award for best documentary. The film, directed by Adam Mazo and Ben Pender-Cudlip , follows the work of Maine’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was established to gather stories from the state’s indigenous people about welfare workers who removed Native American children from their families and placed them in foster care.
Awarded the festival’s best narrative comedy feature was Henry Barrial’s “Driver X,” about a stay-at-home dad who signs up to work for a ride-sharing service.”
Continue reading at The Boston Globe.
The Dark U.S. Legacy Of Ripping Children From Their Families
“The truth and reconciliation process, and “Dawnland,” aim at healing. And, according to Tracy Rector, a Seattle-based media activist of Choctaw and Seminole descent and one of the producers of the film, they had some success.”
“The separation of children from parents now taking place at the southern border is not new in American history.
Slave families were routinely torn apart by owners. And Native American children were removed from their homes, often forcibly, and sent to boarding schools, foster care or adopted out. Carlisle Indian Industrial School, dedicated to “Kill the Indian, Save the Man,” opened in 1879. It was the first of what became a wave of residential schools aimed at assimilating Native people. The effects were shattering and lasted for generations.
A new film, “Dawnland” ― named for the Wabanaki people, whose name means the people of the dawn ― tells the story of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission launched in 2011, commissioned by the state of Maine and five Wabanaki chiefs.”
Continue reading at Huffpost.
At SIFF: bearing witness to stories of ‘cultural genocide’
A review of Dawnland and an interview with Adam Mazo, the film’s co-director.
“To watch the documentary Dawnland is to experience having your stomach clenched in a knot. Native mothers weeping about having their children taken away from them; U.S. government policies stripping Native Americans of their culture; ‘reconciliation’ staffers fully aware of their white privilege but refusing to shelf it as they do cross-cultural work.
It’s all anguishing and infuriating to take in. It also makes Dawnland a powerfully illuminating film — a history lesson that you’re ashamed to have never learned but whose truths you’ll likely never forget.
Filmmakers Adam Mazo and Ben Pender-Cudlip spent five years completing their feature-length documentary about the forced removal of Native American children from their families into White adoptive homes, non-Native foster care and boarding schools.”
Continue reading at Crosscut.
Reclaiming a culture, reclaiming a life
A review of Dawnland and conversation with film participant Dawn Neptune Adams.
“She was a 4-year-old kid named Dawn Neptune, who lived not far from here in a place called Indian Island, a reservation of the Penobscot Nation, a cultural touchstone that shaped — still shapes — who she is.
Her mother, then still a teenager, drank too much in those early days. It was an open family secret, part of an intergenerational trauma that, like her Penobscot heritage, was a critical and governing rhythm to her young life.
And then Dawn Neptune was gone. A baby sitter took her and a younger brother to a grocery store a half-hour away from the reservation. And then abruptly drove away, a cruel abandonment that served as the little girl’s entry into life in foster care, where she promptly learned a hard lesson no kid should be forced to absorb: Forget about your mom. Forget about Indian Island. Forget about being Penobscot.”
Continue reading at The Boston Globe.
CIFF42 Meet the Filmmaker: DAWNLAND
Watch Adam Mazo talk about the documentary film Dawnland and “the need to support organizations promoting truth, healing and change for victims within native tribes and nations.”
“In his #CIFF42 feature documentary Dawnland, filmmaker Adam Mazo talks about the mistreatment of Native Americans and the need to support organizations promoting truth, healing and change for victims within native tribes and nations.”
Watch at Cleveland International Film Festival.
Interview With Directors Adam Mazo and Ben Pender-Cudlip On Their New Film, “Dawnland”
Learn about the forces that drove Adam Mazo and Ben Pender-Cudlip to make the film Dawnland.
“Boston-based filmmaker Adam Mazo is quick to admit that he knew little about Native populations growing up in Minnesota.
He’s committed to changing that for future generations with “Dawnland,” the 90-minute documentary premiering this month at the Cleveland International Film Festival. The film centers on the decades of government policy that forced Native children from their families and into adoptive homes, foster care and boarding schools. The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards will sponsor three screenings.
The idea for “Dawnland” was sparked from Mazo’s work on another film, “Coexist,” about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. “We were talking about how it felt wrong to not be teaching about genocide in this country’s history,” he said.”
Continue reading at Anisfield Book Awards.