The Newberry has been closely monitoring developments related to COVID-19. To enable our community to follow the standards of social distancing mandated by public health officials, we are postponing this program. Please visit www.newberry.org/covid19 for more information and for regular updates regarding Newberry operations.
This month’s First Nations Film and Video Festival screening features two films: Totem: The Return of the G’psgolox Pole and 7th Wave. Totem, a feature-length documentary by Gil Cardinal, traces the journey of the Haisla people to reclaim the G'psgolox totem pole that went missing from their British Columbia village in 1929. The fate of the nineteenth-century traditional mortuary pole remained unknown for over 60 years until it was discovered in a museum in Stockholm, where it is considered state property by the Swedish government.
Also a documentary, 7th Wave highlights the 1989 “Paddle to Seattle” initiative organized by Emmit Oliver, a Quinault tribal elder. Now known as the Canoe Journey, the event has become a symbol of cultural revitalization on a national level. In 2013, the Quinault hosted what was one of the largest canoe journeys in Native American history. In this film, directors Ben-Alex Dupris and Derrik J. LaMere follow the journey in the days leading up to the event.
The two screenings will be followed by a discussion with Northern Arapaho filmmaker Ernest Whiteman III, who is the Director of the First Nations Film and Video Festival.
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