Insider Interview: Bounty with Upstander Project
“Revolutionary Spaces recently sat down with the Upstander Project team, including co-presidents Adam Mazo and Mishy Lesser, to discuss their film Bounty, which follows Penobscot families as they read a scalp bounty that was signed in the Old State House’s Council Chamber. Bounty is currently screening in the Old State House.
What is Bounty? Why is it set in the Old State House?
Adam Mazo: Bounty is a filmic testimony of the immeasurable resistance and survivance of Indigenous Peoples. The film is the cornerstone of a media ecosystem which includes a nine-minute documentary film, several educational videos, a four-lesson comprehensive Teacher’s Guide, digital timeline, and the Bounty Rewards Archive. In the film, Penobscot parents and children resist erasure and commemorate survival by reading and reacting to one of the dozens of government-issued bounty proclamations that motivated colonial settlers to hunt, scalp, and murder Indigenous people.”
“Revolutionary Spaces recently sat down with the Upstander Project team, including co-presidents Adam Mazo and Mishy Lesser, to discuss their film Bounty, which follows Penobscot families as they read a scalp bounty that was signed in the Old State House’s Council Chamber. Bounty is currently screening in the Old State House.
What is Bounty? Why is it set in the Old State House?
Adam Mazo: Bounty is a filmic testimony of the immeasurable resistance and survivance of Indigenous Peoples. The film is the cornerstone of a media ecosystem which includes a nine-minute documentary film, several educational videos, a four-lesson comprehensive Teacher’s Guide, digital timeline, and the Bounty Rewards Archive. In the film, Penobscot parents and children resist erasure and commemorate survival by reading and reacting to one of the dozens of government-issued bounty proclamations that motivated colonial settlers to hunt, scalp, and murder Indigenous people.”
Continue reading at Revolutionary Spaces.
Bound together by stories: Māoriland Film Festival 2024
“Ōtaki is a small town on the southern side of Te Ika-a-Māui, the North Island of Aotearoa. Like many small towns in New Zealand, Ōtaki centres on a quiet main street of family-owned cafes, takeaway restaurants and two pubs, with the Ōtaki Civic Theatre on one end and Te Wānanga o Raukawa Māori University on the other. Drive in one direction and you will hit State Highway 1 to Wellington; drive in the other and you will reach Ōtaki Beach, a thin strip of sand facing out onto the Cook Strait and the Tasman Sea beyond. Over recent decades, Ōtaki has become a hub for Māori cultural identity and language, sixteen percent of its residents and half of the Māori population speak Te Reo Māori—well above the national average of three and 20 percent, respectively.1 In 1921, an Australian production company established a film studio in Ōtaki to make the most of the region’s varied scenery and form ‘Maoriland Films’ as a subsidiary of The New Zealand Moving Picture Co Ltd to shoot short actualities and Charlie Chaplain impersonations.2 Māoriland Film Festival, the largest Indigenous-run film festival in Aotearoa, now in its eleventh year, draws its title from this remnant of early film history.”
Continue reading at Senses of Cinema.
“Ōtaki is a small town on the southern side of Te Ika-a-Māui, the North Island of Aotearoa. Like many small towns in New Zealand, Ōtaki centres on a quiet main street of family-owned cafes, takeaway restaurants and two pubs, with the Ōtaki Civic Theatre on one end and Te Wānanga o Raukawa Māori University on the other. Drive in one direction and you will hit State Highway 1 to Wellington; drive in the other and you will reach Ōtaki Beach, a thin strip of sand facing out onto the Cook Strait and the Tasman Sea beyond. Over recent decades, Ōtaki has become a hub for Māori cultural identity and language, sixteen percent of its residents and half of the Māori population speak Te Reo Māori—well above the national average of three and 20 percent, respectively.1 In 1921, an Australian production company established a film studio in Ōtaki to make the most of the region’s varied scenery and form ‘Maoriland Films’ as a subsidiary of The New Zealand Moving Picture Co Ltd to shoot short actualities and Charlie Chaplain impersonations.2 Māoriland Film Festival, the largest Indigenous-run film festival in Aotearoa, now in its eleventh year, draws its title from this remnant of early film history.”
Continue reading at Senses of Cinema.
It’s Our Time: ‘Bring Them Home / Aiskótáhkapiyaaya’ Comes to SIFF
The iinnii (Blackfeet for buffalo) and Indigenous filmmakers are having a moment. 4th World Media Lab alumni Ivy and Ivan MacDonald (Blackfeet siblings and filmmakers) and Daniel Glick’s (Thunderheart Films) award-winning feature documentary, Bring Them Home / Aiskótáhkapiyaaya, will be playing at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) Cinema Uptown May 16 and 18, with the filmmakers, their families, and a new cohort of 4th “World Indigenous filmmakers in attendance. Opening this feature is the short film Tahnaanooku’, written by Indigenous filmmaker Justin Deegan (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA) Nation, Oglala, Hunkpapa) and co-produced by Seattle-based Tracy Rector. It is part of the second season of the Reciprocity Project, which includes Indigenous shorts from around the world that explore a return to land, languages, and reciprocal relationships.”
“The iinnii (Blackfeet for buffalo) and Indigenous filmmakers are having a moment. 4th World Media Lab alumni Ivy and Ivan MacDonald (Blackfeet siblings and filmmakers) and Daniel Glick’s (Thunderheart Films) award-winning feature documentary, Bring Them Home / Aiskótáhkapiyaaya, will be playing at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) Cinema Uptown May 16 and 18, with the filmmakers, their families, and a new cohort of 4th World Indigenous filmmakers in attendance. Opening this feature is the short film Tahnaanooku’, written by Indigenous filmmaker Justin Deegan (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA) Nation, Oglala, Hunkpapa) and co-produced by Seattle-based Tracy Rector. It is part of the second season of the Reciprocity Project, which includes Indigenous shorts from around the world that explore a return to land, languages, and reciprocal relationships.”
Continue reading at the South Seattle Emerald.
Bentonville Film Fest Sets ‘Out of My Mind’ as Opener, Unveils Competition Lineup
“Amber Sealey’s Out of My Mind will open the 10th annual Bentonville Film Festival, which aims to amplify female, nonbinary, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC and people with disabilities’ voices in entertainment.
The 10th edition of the festival, which was founded and is chaired by Geena Davis, runs June 10-16 in Bentonville, Arkansas. The lineup of premieres — including narrative, documentary, short film and episodic selections — was announced Tuesday by the Bentonville Film Foundation, founding partner Walmart and presenting sponsor Coca-Cola. The Hollywood Reporter is a media sponsor of the event.”
Continue reading at The Hollywood Reporter.
“Amber Sealey’s Out of My Mind will open the 10th annual Bentonville Film Festival, which aims to amplify female, nonbinary, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC and people with disabilities’ voices in entertainment.
The 10th edition of the festival, which was founded and is chaired by Geena Davis, runs June 10-16 in Bentonville, Arkansas. The lineup of premieres — including narrative, documentary, short film and episodic selections — was announced Tuesday by the Bentonville Film Foundation, founding partner Walmart and presenting sponsor Coca-Cola. The Hollywood Reporter is a media sponsor of the event.”
Continue reading at The Hollywood Reporter.
Interview with Penthea Burns and Esther Anne
Listen to this episode of the “Returning the Land” podcast to hear from two of the women (Esther Anne and Pentha Burns) who had a monumental role in creating the Maine Wabanaki State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission answer one of the most frequently-asked questions we hear from Dawnland viewers: What is happening now with REACH? This episode of the Returning the Land podcast is filled with insights about the impact of their work, the power of protest to make change, how they feel now about centering reconciliation, the truths that Maine’s marketing campaigns conceals, and the ongoing ripples in the pond from Dawnland.
Listen to this episode of the “Returning the Land” podcast to hear from two of the women (Esther Anne and Pentha Burns) who had a monumental role in creating the Maine Wabanaki State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission answer one of the most frequently-asked questions we hear from Dawnland viewers: What is happening now with REACH? This episode of the Returning the Land podcast is filled with insights about the impact of their work, the power of protest to make change, how they feel now about centering reconciliation, the truths that Maine’s marketing campaigns conceals, and the ongoing ripples in the pond from Dawnland.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Yo-Yo Ma on the perils of being disconnected from nature and each other
“Shortly before dawn on a June day in 2021, I stood in the middle of a field in Acadia National Park in Maine. Beside me were my hosts: elders, storytellers, and musicians from the Wabanaki peoples who have lived in this place — which they call Moneskatik — for thousands of years. We were gathered to celebrate a centuries-old tradition of music and story. Roger Paul began by sharing the legend, first in Wabanaki then in English, of Koluskap, the first man, who had placed their Wabanaki ancestors on the eastern edge of the American continent for a purpose: to welcome the sun each morning. We listened to Lauren Stevens sing against a background of the softly breaking waves of the Atlantic. And as the sun rose through the pines, I was invited to take out my cello. I played a Mongolian tune, a piece that tells of the grasslands that my ancestors may have wandered, long before they came to the concrete of Hong Kong and Paris and New York.”
“Shortly before dawn on a June day in 2021, I stood in the middle of a field in Acadia National Park in Maine. Beside me were my hosts: elders, storytellers, and musicians from the Wabanaki peoples who have lived in this place — which they call Moneskatik — for thousands of years. We were gathered to celebrate a centuries-old tradition of music and story. Roger Paul began by sharing the legend, first in Wabanaki then in English, of Koluskap, the first man, who had placed their Wabanaki ancestors on the eastern edge of the American continent for a purpose: to welcome the sun each morning. We listened to Lauren Stevens sing against a background of the softly breaking waves of the Atlantic. And as the sun rose through the pines, I was invited to take out my cello. I played a Mongolian tune, a piece that tells of the grasslands that my ancestors may have wandered, long before they came to the concrete of Hong Kong and Paris and New York.”
Continue reading at The Boston Globe.
Late American Indian activist shines in 'Dawnland,' 'Georgina'
“All of the Conestoga remains were not “returned to their original resting places” in 1979.
The Central Park staff retained the finger bones from an Indian child’s hand and displayed them for the public along with other artifacts uncovered during the excavation.
Georgina Sappier, a Lancaster resident and originally a Passamaquoddy from Maine, said no one should be treated like that. Sappier led an effort that resulted in the ceremonial reburial of the child's hand bones and other bone fragments at the site in 1987.”
“Along Golf Road in Lancaster County Central Park, near the covered bridge to the Kiwanis Park section, a boulder stands atop a high point between the Conestoga River and Mill Creek.
Bolted to the boulder is a bronze plaque, explaining County Park construction workers accidentally uncovered an Indian cemetery in the spring of 1979.
The workers paused while archaeologists excavated the site. They found 12 Conestoga-Susquehannock graves filled with bodies and artifacts dating to the early 18th century. According to the last sentence on the plaque, the remains were “returned to their original resting places.”
Continue reading at LancasterOnline.
Award-winning 'Dawnland' screens May 10
“The culminating event of the Waldo Reads Together program is a showing of the documentary "Dawnland" Wednesday, May 10, at 6 p.m. at Belfast Free Library, 106 High St. There will also be a post-viewing discussion led by WRT facilitators. This program is free and open to the public.”
“The culminating event of the Waldo Reads Together program is a showing of the documentary "Dawnland" Wednesday, May 10, at 6 p.m. at Belfast Free Library, 106 High St. There will also be a post-viewing discussion led by WRT facilitators. This program is free and open to the public.
For most of the 20th century, government agents systematically forced Native American children from their homes and placed them with white families. As recently as the 1970s, one in four Native children nationwide were living in non-Native foster care, adoptive homes or boarding schools. Many children experienced devastating emotional and physical harm by adults who tried to erase their cultural identity.”
Read more at The Republican Journal.