University of Idaho 11th Annual Native American Film Festival

March 27 - 30, 2013
7:00 p.m.

Free Admission — Everyone is Welcome

Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre • 508 South Main Street • Moscow, Idaho 83843



Wednesday 3/27

Ceremonial Opening

7:00 pm


Profiile picture of Horace AxtellCeremonial Opening with Vandal Nation Drum.

Horace Axtell will not be able to attend due to a foot injury.

Read Horace Axtell's interview with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).



Guest Speaker: John Trudell
Poet, Artist, Actor, Activist.

Screening:
John Trudell: The Art of Activism by Janae Hakala, Sam Hahn, Kirsten Virtue and Hana Miller






Thursday 3/28

The Lesser Blessed
U.S. Premiere

7:00 pm

Premiered to critical acclaim at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and based on the celebrated novel by Richard Van Camp, The Lesser Blessed is an eye-opening depiction of what it is like to be a vulnerable teenager in today’s modern world. Through the eyes of Larry Sole, a First Nation teenager filled with bravado and angst, fragile and yet angry, seeking clarity clouded by confusion, seeking to belong without belonging, comes the story of three unlikely friends isolated in a small rural town discovering what they can of life and love amid racial tensions and the recklessness of youth, in a world clouded by a dark mystery from his past.



Friday 3/29

A Night of Short Films

7:00 pm

The Rocket Boy (2010, 15 min.)
Director: Donavan Seschillie (Navajo)
Calvin is determined to find his father in space, against his mother’s advice.

The 6th World (Navajo)
Navajo Astronaut Tazbah Redhouse is a pilot on the first spaceship sent to colonize Mars. But a mysterious dream the night before her departure indicates there may be more to her mission than she understands.

Shimásáni (Navajo)
In the late 1920s on the serene Navajo reservation, Mary Jane decides whether to retain her traditional lifestyle at home with her másání (grandmother) or seek a new life "just over the mountain.

Universal VIP (Blackfeet/Non-native)
When the Creator pays Thelma a visit, she has to choose between bearing his ‘love child’, and staying true to herself and her ideas of family and responsibility.

Two Cars, One Night (Aotearoa/New Zealand)
Two boys and a girl begin a tentative friendship as they wait for their parents in the parking lot of a motel bar—the first Maori-made film nominated for an Oscar.

Q and A with Universal VIP Director (and UI Alum) Ken White and Actor Lily Gladstone


Saturday 3/30

Winter in the Blood

7:00 pm

Special Sneak Preview of the work-in-progress Winter in the Blood

Feature film based on the James Welch novel

Virgil First Raise wakes in a ditch on the hardscrabble plains of Montana, hungover and badly beaten. He sees a shocking vision: his father, ten years dead, lying frozen at his feet. Shaken, Virgil returns home to his ranch on the Reservation, only to find that his wife, Agnes, has left him. Worse, she’s taken his beloved rifle.

Virgil sets out to town find her— or perhaps just the gun— beginning a hi-line odyssey of inebriated and improbable intrigues with the mysterious Airplane Man, his beautiful accomplice, Malvina, and two dangerous Men in Suits. Virgil’s quest also brings him face-to-face with childhood memories, traumas and visions of his long lost brother Mose.

Virgil, bloodied and broken by his quest, realizes that he must look inward for the strength he needs to survive. In the mountains, he seeks out Yellow Calf— an old blind man, who helps him grasp the truth of his origins. By embracing— and no longer fleeing— his memories, Virgil is finally able to thaw the ice in his veins.

Q and A with Screenwriter Ken White, Director Alex Smith and Actor Lily Gladstone




Download the 2013 Festival Flyer