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Recently, I was asked to help plan the cultural event for the National Congress of American Indians’ (NCAI) Annual Mid-Year Conference and Marketplace, June 17-20 in Lincoln, Neb.—NAPT’s hometown. It’s been a very exciting experience and I look forward to meeting all of the conference attendees. More importantly though, it is a chance for the community to engage with Tribal leaders and representatives from across the U.S.

As many of you already know and recall from the documentary film Good Meat, presented by NAPT, buffalo meat is not only a traditional food way, but it is very healthy—and sadly, hard to come by in many areas.

At the June 17 cultural event, we’re planning to have a feast and a traditional powwow. Chairwoman Rebecca White of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska also sits on the local planning committee with me, as well as NAPT’s Executive Director Shirley K. Sneve and many other vital members in our Lincoln/Omaha community and neighboring cities.

When we asked Chairwoman White for the donation of a buffalo, we knew it was a big request—literally. Without this donation, we wouldn’t be able to have the feast and more importantly—provide healthy food to our 800+ attendees. When she came back to say that they could make the donation and transport the processed bison meat to Lincoln, Neb., we were ecstatic. Now, our biggest challenge is finding a freezer that can hold it :-). I believe that we all looked at each other with huge smiles and started thinking about summertime BBQ, fresh soup, bison burgers and roast.

If you haven’t had the chance to meet Beau LeBeau (Oglala Lakota) of the Pine Ridge Reservation, be sure to check him out in the documentary Good Meat. In the film, LeBeau follows a traditional diet centered around buffalo meat and exercises regularly while under the supervision of a physician and nutritionist. It’s amazing what traditional, healthy food and exercise did for LeBeau and what it can do for each of us too! Looking towards summertime and the wardrobe that comes with it, I know that I’m ready to embark on a healthier diet…and exercise too. Are you?

Find out more about Good Meat and NAPT’s free online resources on a healthy lifestyle through traditional food ways! 

Fourth Biennial VisionMaker Film Festival Image Gallery Click on thumbnails to view larger images for download or to listen to the corresponding Producer Profile podcast. Images courtesy of NAPT.
Listen to Producer Profile podcast
	Listen to the Producer Profile podcast

The fourth biennial VisionMaker Film Festival was held September 30 through October 6, 2011, with screenings at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, Sheldon Art Museum, NET Television, Film Streams (Omaha, Neb.) and Merryman Performing Arts Center (Kearney, Neb.) with the help of the following funders and supporters: Nebraska Arts Council, Nebraska Humanities Council, NET Television, Lincoln Journal Star, Southeast Nebraska Native American Coalition (SENNAC), University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO), Creighton University, Southeast Community College (SCC), University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and the Nebraska Department of Education.

The Sheldon Art Museum featured GRAB, a new NAPT documentary and Official Selection in the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, with filmmaker Billy Luther (Navajo/Hopi/Laguna Pueblo). The event was sponsored by Creighton University. Film Streams, in collaboration with UNO's Native American Studies Program, featured a free screening of Reel Injun followed by a Q&A with Native actor Gary Farmer (Cayuga). The 2011 Mary Riepma Ross Award honored Frank Blythe (Eastern Band of Cherokee/Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota), founder of NAPT, at the opening night reception of the VisionMaker Film Festival.

With the help of nationally recognized media makers to help shape the festival, the curatorial team helped the Festival showcase 37 Native film and video projects. The Festival aggregated and screened the best of not only Public Television productions, but feature-length and short films as well. The curatorial team included Chris Eyre (Cheyenne/Arapaho), award-winning independent filmmaker, director and producer; Danny Lee Ladely, director of the Mary Riempa Ross Media Arts Center; Dustin Owl Johnson (Saginaw Chippewa) coordinator for Native American and Indigenous programs for the Sundance Institute; and Shirley K. Sneve (Rosebud Sioux), executive director of NAPT.

With the help of an eight-member Local Development Committee, NAPT was able to bring seven Native filmmakers to screen their documentaries along with workshops at local universities, schools and museums.

Michelle Kosmicki, research manager for NET Television, coordinated NAPT's evaluation of the Festival. Written surveys were created and distributed at screenings and workshops. Kosmicki designed an evaluation process that involved all participants, such as students, teachers and parents. Surveys were used as part of the assessment. A total of 434 post-screening surveys were completed.

Film Festival participants were generally female, with 51.5% reporting their gender as "female," 48.0% reporting their gender as "male" and 0.5% reporting their gender as "other." The age of Film Festival participants were calculated from year of birth: 25.6% "age 50 to 64"; 18.0% "age 35 to 49"; 15.2% "age 18 to 24"; 14.5% "age 17 and younger"; 12.0% "age 65 and older"; 11.1% "age 25 to 34"; and 3.7% did not give their year of birth. The vast majority of participants were from Nebraska (85.0%). Eleven other states represented 9.7% of participants. A small percentage of participants did not provide their zip code (5.3%). The final question on the survey asked all participants if they would attend more screenings. An overwhelming majority indicated "yes" (57.4%), with 3.0% indicating "no," 34.3% indicating "unsure," and 5.3% chose not to respond.

One thousand people visited the Film Festival website during the course of the event. There were over 250 tweets about the 2011 VisionMaker Film Festival from over 50 different Twitter handles. There was increased engagement around our social media channels during the Film Festival, but not as much as we would have liked. Lessons-learned during and since the Film Festival will allow for more engagement via social media during our next Film Festival.

In our evaluation efforts, we measured the effect of marketing collateral. The largest percentage indicated that "Word-of-Mouth" (27.0%) was the most common marketing tool followed by "Other" (24.6%) and "Email Announcements" at 18.4%.

We absolutely feel that the Festival had a positive impact on the community by promoting Native American culture, providing educational opportunities that benefited teachers, students and the general public in the community, providing an opportunity for the Native American community to interact with positive Native American role models, and providing an opportunity to educate non-Native Americans in Nebraska about the contributions Native Americans have had on Nebraska's rich and diverse history. Planning is underway for the 2013 VisionMaker Film Festival.

Our audience was asked what the film that they watched meant to them. Here are just a few responses worth sharing:

• The struggle to reclaim cultural identity in the face of adversity, institutionalized injustices, and discrimination. The film also proposed and advocated our responsibility to promote the truth, correct past injustices and to uphold the sacred cultural values.

• An awareness of stereotypes and how we need to break down those stereotypes so our children know the true story.

• An introduction to a subject I was otherwise quite ignorant about.

• As a young Indigenous filmmaker, this inspired me to tell my stories.

• I’m glad [that] I brought my eight-year-old daughter. I know that she was exposed to much needed information.

• I need to work hard so I can go to college. College is important.

• I wish more teenagers and parents could see this film.

With support from an NAPT producer fund, Prairie Dust Films was able to bring Producer Debra White Plume to Chicago to participate in a series of events "From Pine Ridge to Chicago". The goal of the event was to connect those involved in the difficult work to protect Mother Earth from environmental destruction both on Native lands and in Chicago. To support our youth mentorship initiative on Pine Ridge, the Lakota Media Project, we organized opportunities for advancement and collaboration with media organizations and institutions.

The participants from Pine Ridge included:  Debra White Plume (Owe Aku/ Bring Back the Way), Members of the Lakota Media Project (Rosebud White Plume, Justine White Hawk, Darci Phillip, Miranda Dick) and main characters of the documentary Elisha Yellow Thunder (Lakota) and Jeremy Pettigrew (Lakota) who currently reside in Omaha, NE.  Suree Towfighnia, Reuben Cruz and Jessica Tevaga from Prairie Dust Films also participated in the week long events.

On Tuesday, November 8, 2011, we attended a screening organized by the Latino Cultural Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). 45 people came out to screen Standing Silent Nation and participate in a discussion about economic empowerment, native struggles and current work. We educated attendees on native issues, related them to local struggles and provided ways for the enthusiastic audience to get involved.

Wednesday’s event, "From Pine Ridge to Chicago", was a celebration of Native and Environmental activism and provided an opportunity for outreach and community engagement for the "Crying Earth Rise Up" program. Filmmakers, activists and main characters were able to connect themes from the short program to the important work many in the room are involved in.

The event brought together diverse communities, activists, musicians and organizations—all centering their songs, videos and discussion on themes of clean water and energy.  Over 150 people joined us over the course of the evening to listen to Hawaiian chants, screen new documentary work samples (the most recent Crying Earth Rise Up, the Lakota Media Project trailer, clips from Vancouver resistance, part of a documentary on post-Fukishima Japan organic farmers), celebrate environmental and native activism, listen to live spoken word and hip hop, groove to DJ music, pray for the water in a Mixeca way and mosh around to political punk.

We raised over $400 in our raffle and silent auction efforts—and almost broke even on the event.  But more important than money, we gathered many new allies for the cause and inspired others to search for cleaner options to nuclear energy, as well as to understand the connection between the source of the energy and their use. People vowed to stand up against the tar sands and over 60 people signed the Mother Earth Accord and letters to Laila Pettigrew, the little girl featured in the documentary who has kidney failure.

On Thursday, November 10, 2011, Director, Suree Towfighnia took the Lakota Media Project visitors to a Documentary class led by longtime Chicago filmmaker and media activist Tom Weinberg at Columbia College Chicago. The group presented stories from life on Pine Ridge and screened their trailer. They participated in a discussion of their video and received feedback from the class. Most students had little knowledge of the Reservation or Native Americans.

On Friday, November 11, 2011, we went to Lake Michigan to gather with others and pray for the water.

Our final outreach initiative was to bring together youth from all walks of life in a media workshop. Prairie Dust Films partnered with Street Level Youth Media, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Niles North High School, Gallery 37, Lakota Media Project and Owe Aku to accomplish this goal. The youth ambitiously tried to create three short videos and music around the themes.  Over 23 youth attended from all ethnic and class corners of Chicago and the Pine Ridge Reservation (South Dakota) on Saturday, November 12, 2011. The group collaborated in discussion and idea development focused around themes of Mother Earth Protection and clean energy solutions. We screened a short documentary about the importance of water to the Lakota way of life and shared stories from life on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The inter-exchange of cultures and experiences inspired all. The youth led workshop made a pledge to finish their projects and hopefully gather again in the spring.

We are grateful to the Pine Ridge delegation for all their hard work, to Owe Aku and  the Lakota Media Project who as the next generation is creating media in their own voice and perspective. We also extend thanks to the Elisha Yellow Thunder and Jeremy Pettigrew for taking the time from their busy life to educate and inspire with their story. A special thanks to all the volunteers, teachers, organizations and youth that helped make the week a success.

And finally, we are thank NAPT for all the support on our Crying Earth Rise Up project!

 Crying Earth Rise Up is a feature documentary and multi-platform engagement project that examines the human cost of contaminated water and the fight to prevent the expansion of uranium mines on the Great Plains. It’s a contemporary story of a classic fight for land, water and protecting a way of life.

For more information about the project, please visit the link to our work in progress webpage.

All the best,

Suree Towfighnia

Director, Prairie Dust Films

I will be going to SXSW Interactive this year to moderate the panel "Popping Your Bubble: Stories of the Digital Divide".

While I am there I will also be live tweeting information I learn at the pre-conference meeting of public media geeks (a.k.a. Integrated Media Association (iMA) conference) and from the sessions that I attend as Interactive Media Specialist for NAPT.

• Let's Talk Video for Social Change
• Storytelling Beyond Words: New Forms of Journalism
• No Brochures: Digital Storytelling for Nonprofits
• Designing Games for Documentary
• CrowdTV: Crowd-Sourcing Documentaries

If you want to get my notes on the sessions, just follow our twitter account @nativemedia March 7-13.

This is a list of sessions that I am going to attend for sure. I have others that I have penciled in, but feel free to recommend a session that you'd love to get tweets about by tweeting us at @nativemedia and using the sessions hashtag.