Sundance Institute / Walker Art Center Native American film event draws over three hundred community members!

Over three hundred people attended the Sundance Institute’s showing of two Native American films at the Walker Art Center on Thursday, July 10. Screening of the films, Sikumi, a short film directed by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean (Iñupiaq) and Four Sheets to the Wind, a feature film directed by Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Creek), was followed by a Q & A, moderated by Bird Runningwater, (Cheyenne and Mescalero Apache), Associate Director of the Native American and Indigenous Initiative for the Sundance Institute.

During the Q & A session, the directors shared their experiences of growing up in Native American communities (Okpeaha MacLean in Alaska and Harjo in Oklahoma) and of how those experiences influenced the making of their films. Okpeaha MacLean described his effort to illustrate traditional, non-western approaches to conflict resolution unique to his own cultural group.  Harjo spoke about his desire to avoid depicting stereotypical images of Indian people which generally do not resonate with real life. “Most of the actors who auditioned for the part of Cufe attempted to portray the ‘angry Indian male.’ I chose Cody [Lightning] for the part because he approached the role very differently, with much more authenticity and sensitivity than the other actors.” Both filmakers encouraged audience members interested in making their own films to just do it. They said that, while taking classes can be helpful, the most important thing is to have a strong desire to tell a story and the motivation to do so with film.

Four Sheets to the Wind is out on DVD and can be found at Blockbuster. It is also available for purchase on amazon.com.

To purchase copies of Sikumi, contact Okpeaha MacLean directly at: okpeaha@yahoo.com.

Event Photographs