Film Festivals - Women in Film International

WIFI Presents A Night to Celebrate Indigenous Filmmakers of the Americas

Saturday, October 25 2008, 6:00pm - 10:00pm

The Second Annual Focus on International Short Films

Come join us for the second annual event where this year we focus on short films by Indigenous American filmmakers. More than just a screening, you will experience Indigenous American culture with a reception, music, a fine art exhibit, and special appearances by Danza Azteca Cuauhtemoc, Vox Femina, Miss Blackfoot Canada 2008 and Happy Frejo. Following the screening will be a Q & A with the filmmakers. This event brings together Indigenous artists from North, Central and South American communities in Los Angeles, and is sure to draw a large and diverse crowd.

When: The Evening of Saturday, October 25th of 2008
6:00pm - 10:00pm
Where: Barnsdall Gallery Theatre
4800 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90027
Price: WIF Members $15.00/ Non-WIF members $20.00
To purchase tickets: www.itsmyseat.com

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Women In Film
Dare 2 Dream
Tjier Lily Co: A Native American Arts & Entertainment Company

www.TijerLilyCo.com

Women In Film International Committee is hosting a reprise of their successful International Short Films Screening, this time with the focus on Indigenous filmmakers of the Americas. This event, hosted by Comic Mitch Factor, brings together for the first time Indigenous artists from North, Central and South American communities in Los Angeles.

SELECTED FILMMAKERS:

Rojo Red
Director: Juan Manuel Betancourt
A young boy's fascination with his shoe string leads him to unravel the meaning of life.

Lagrimas Del Café
Director: Claudia Mercado
Meaning tears like coffee, that honors the director's ancestors, specifically her grandmother.

Conversion
Director: Nanobah Becker
In the early 1950's, Christian missionaries make a catastrophic visit to a family in the remote, Navajo desert, with unforeseen results.

Telephone Warriors: The Story of the Choctaw Code Talkers
Director: Valerie Redhorse
In 1918, not yet citizens of the U.S., Choctaw members of the U.S. American Expeditionary Forces were asked to use their native language as a powerful tool against the German Forces in World War I, setting a precedent for code talking as an effective military weapon and establishing them as America's original Code Talkers.

Xani Xepica
Director: Alejandro Diaz
What it takes to become a man. A young Indian boy tries to prove worthy of his bride.

For the Next Seven Generations
Director: Carol Hart
13 Indigenous women elders, shamans and medicine women from around the world, have united as one to share their sacred wisdom and practices. As they travel the globe together, they are shining a bright light on the path to a sustainable world for the next seven generations.

Native American Night Before Christmas
Director: Gary Robinson
An adaptation of the Christmas Classic illustrated by one of America's foremost Native American artists, Jesse Hummingbird.

More than just a screening, this event includes live performances by Danza Azteca Cuauhtemoc, Vox Femina, Miss Canadian Blackfoot 2008 and Happy Frejo and an art exhibit that showcases three talented indigenous artists with three very different and very strong visions:

Bernie Granados, Jr.
is a multi-talented artist who works in a wide variety of mediums, including embossed acrylic paintings, watercolor, Prismacolor pencil, pen and ink drawings, wood carvings, ceramic, and bronze. Drawing from his Apache and Zacatec roots, Mr. Granados produces paintings, sculptures, masks, prints, and miniatures featuring beautiful images of horses, buffalo, and ancient ancestral figures inspired by visions and cave art throughout America. He finds inspiration in Nature's force and beauty, his smarter-than-human quarter horses, his fellow artists, and his love and respect for the Creator.

David Mata
Chumash, Yokut, Karuk Indian Nations, is a Native American Indian artist/illustrator specializing in mixed media, including acrylics, oils, pen and ink, pencils, scratchboards, charcoals and pastels. He is the owner of David Mata Arts and Entertainment studio in San Diego, providing commercial Native American artist's services to private, educational and commercial art buyers.

Maritza Alvarez
Maritza Alvarez is a Xicana Indigenous photographer and cinematographer that grew up in Boyle Heights, California. In 2000, she married her social political activism work with the world of filmmaking committing herself to the organic love between these two mediums of expression and representation. Honoring Cihuatlan (Place of the Woman): a series of original black and white 35mm photographs depicting the portraits of Indigenous women in action. From the urban streets of Los Angeles to the arid deserts of Mexico, into the dense jungles El Salvador, Honoring Cihuatlan is a photo-journalistic portrayal of the current active leadership and participation of inter-generational Indigenous women. Fierce women, who never surrendered to the colonial rule by the Spanish invasion of Anahuac. Perseveringly taking action against the continued perpetuation of irresponsible and inhumane treatment of our precious and sacred Tonantzin (mother earth) and all of her caretakers by current neo-colonial government officials, corporations and policy makers. We thank these Cihuatl's for their strength, wisdom and resilient spirits.

Ometeotl, To All My Relations. She started out self-taught and later acquired some formal training at L.A. City college and the Los Angeles Film School. 13 Visions is a self run business committed to the re-creation and documentation of stories too often overlooked. http://web.mac.com/m13visions

Additional performances by:

Master of Ceremonies -

Mitch Factor
began his journey at "Bricktown's Comedy Warehouse" and "Jokers Comedy Club" in Oklahoma City. The next eight years would bring three titles to Mitch's comedy tours, "Mitch Factor Takin' It to the Edge" and the "Wake Me Up and Laugh tour". The third tour is titled, "Don't Get Me Started". Mitch reminds us that it is okay to laugh at the harsh realities of life. Mitch's comedy covers subjects such as family, work, children, Native American way of life and simply being human.

Vox Femina Los Angeles
is a women's choral ensemble dedicated to the performance of quality choral literature with an emphasis on music by women composers. Vox Femina LA is one of the premier women's choruses in the United States with a demonstrated ability to perform highly eclectic repertoire. It has an aggressive schedule of performances, touring and educational outreach and has demonstrated its support and encouragement of living composers through commissioning new works.

Happy Frejo
Happy Frejo is a member of the Seminole and Pawnee tribes of Oklahoma and Xicana. She is an actress, singer/songwriter, dance instructor and independent filmmaker. She travels to native youth conferences promoting hope, self-awareness and positive living using her original music, teaching Hip Hop dance, "Spoken Word" and Youth Theatre Workshops. Happy performs across the United States with native dance troupes SPIRIT the Seventh Fire and Yellow House. She is lead singer of Phoenix based band Straight Up, and has her own original band Happy Soul Project. She is part of a native non-profit organization known as NVISION (www.nvisionit.org) which was recently featured in an 8-part documentary airing on MTV/Canada and National Geographic in February of 2008.

Happy will be singing an original composition by J.D. Nash, a Native American songwriter with the band, Red Circle (Running Mouth Media) which has shared the stage with such acts as Chris Caffery of the Tran-Siberian Orchestra, Doro Pesch, Gary Hoey and Black Oak Arkansas. They have also performed with indigenous acts: Skylar Wolf, Wayquay, Buggin' Malone and Annie Humphrey.

ANDREA TRUE JOY FOX
Miss Blackfoot Canada 2008-2009
Choreographer, Dancer, Model, Playwright, Singer, Teacher, Visual Artist

Andrea is a member of the Blackfoot Confederacy from the Kainai, Blood Tribe in Southern Alberta where she grew up. She is an exceptional dancer with an extensive performance and training background in contemporary (modern) dance, and traditional First Nations dance as a fancy dancer and hoop dancer. Andrea is also a choreographer, singer, playwright, and published poet. Andrea has established her own professional performance group: Red Star Women & Whirlwind Warriors, which has performed this year for the Dene First Nations community in the Northwest Territories and the 2008 Calgary Stampede Indian Village, as well as represent the Kainai Tribe in the 2008 Calgary Stampede Parade.

This event is produced by WIF International Committee Members, Producer Tessa Bell & Producer Aba Ngissah
WIF International Committee: Co-Chairs Ruby Lopez & Arati Misro, Advisory Chairs Tobie Loomis & Gabrielle Kelly
Barnsdall Gallery Theatre is a facility of the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles.

The event press release on the Official Women in Film Website

http://www.wif.org/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=106&year=2008&month=10&day=25&Itemid=60