Vision Maker Media continues its 40th anniversary celebration with five films streaming in December as part of its collection of 40 films available for free streaming through Aug. 7, 2017.
The engaging life story of Native American poet/prophet/activist John Trudell and his heartfelt message of active, personal responsibility to the earth, all of its inhabitants and our descendants. Combining images and archival footage with interviews and performances, this biography reveals the philosophy and motivations behind Trudell's work and his relationship to contemporary Indian history.
Producer: Heather Rae
XIT: WITHOUT RESERVATIONS
In 1970 a young American Indian rock band burst upon the music scene and became the
world's premier American Indian rock and roll band: XIT (pronounced exit). The band carried a message of unity, hope and truth to Indian people across America. Their lyrics brought to the surface the injustice that had been and continues to be inflicted upon Native America. They not only brought rock and roll to Indian people...they brought Indian consciousness to the world through rock and roll.
This film captures the high-energy of the live concert reunion special that celebrated the band's 30th anniversary, May 20, 2000, at the Celebrity Palace in the Mystic Lake Casino in Prior Lake. Producers: Tom Bee, Floyd Westerman, and Chuck Banner
An animated whimsical look at what Christmas Eve might be like for a magical American Indian village where tipis and TVs co-exist when the native Santa Claus named Old Red Shirt comes to deliver goodies for native children.
An animated short film the whole family will enjoy. This whimsical adaptation of the timeless classic yuletide song The Twelve Days of Christmas adapted to a Native American perspective and illustrated by one of America's great Indian artists,
Jesse T. Hummingbird. Twelve different Native American groups are represented in the lyrics and images of this fanciful animated short film.
Producer: Gary Robinson
This comedy explores the interaction of two cultural groups indigenous to Minnesota-- American Indians and philanthropic foundations. Poet Gerald Vizenor's screenplay draws on trickster myths common to many Indian tribes to create a contemporary satire which dispels many Hollywood stereotypes. The story involves trickster Harold and his scheme to obtain corporate funding for a chain of coffeehouses featuring reservation-grown "pinch bean" coffee.
Producer: Richard Weise
About 40 Years. 40 Films. 40 Weeks.
The same year our nation celebrated its bicentennial and President Ford proclaimed a week in October as "Native American Awareness Week",
six Native producers in public television met to charter the Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium (NAPBC), later known as Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT) and now Vision Maker Media.
In these 40 years, our organization has created more than 500 films, awarded $11 million to independent producers and held hundreds of film-screening events across the nation. In celebration of Vision Maker Media's 40th anniversary, a collection of 40 films will be available for free streaming through Aug. 7, 2017. Each week a different film will be available on
visionmakermedia.organd americanarchive.org.
About Vision Maker Media
Vision Maker Media is celebrating 40 years as your premier source for quality American Indian and Alaska Native educational and home videos. All aspects of our programs encourage the involvement of young people to learn more about careers in the media--to be the next generation of storytellers. Vision Maker Media envisions a world changed and healed by understanding Native stories and the public conversations they generate.
With funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), Vision Maker Media's Public Media Content Fund awards support to projects with a Native American theme and significant Native involvement that ultimately benefits the entire public media community. Vision Maker Media, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) empowers and engages Native People to tell stories. For more information,
www.visionmakermedia.org
About The American Archive of Public Broadcasting
The American Archive of Public Broadcasting seeks to preserve and make accessible significant historical content created by public media, and to coordinate a national effort to save at-risk public media before its content is lost to posterity.
