The First Nations Film and Video Festival at the Newberry, featuring films by Native American directors, kicks off Saturday, November 10, with screenings of The Honor Riders and Choctaw Code Talkers. Both films will be illuminated by commentary from FNFVF Director Ernest Whiteman, followed by a Q&A with the audience.
Free to attend with advance registration, the festival will be held the second Saturday of every month for the next seven months. Subsequent dates include December 9, January 12, February 9, March 9, April 13, and May 11.
The Honor Riders, Directed Ralphina Hernandez - Navajo (Diné)
Arising from the Great Tribes of the Navajo and Hopi Peoples, the Honor Riders began in 2003 to celebrate the life of Lori Piestewa, the first Native American woman killed in Iraq.
The Honor Riders are a group of Veterans and their supporters who gather each year before Memorial Day in May to honor the missing and the fallen; to ride for those who cannot. To remind everyone, whether they are Past or Present, a Warrior remains a Warrior, and Freedom is never Free.
Choctaw Code Talkers, Directed by Valerie Red-Horse - Cherokee
In 1918, not yet citizens of the United States, Choctaw members of the 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.
Download a PDF flyer for the film series, to post and distribute.