Native American film festival features culture, fights stereotypes

By: Taylor Dolven

Posted: 11/3/09

Native American filmmakers have traveled from as far as Austin, Texas, to present their films and participate in discussion with students and community members as part of Miami University's Native American Film Festival.

The festival will take place Wednesday through Friday on Miami's Oxford campus, with screenings from 4 to 6 p.m. each day.

The department of anthropology has teamed up with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian Film and Video Center to create this unique event. Twelve Native American films will be featured on topics ranging from steel building Mohawk Indians in Manhattan to modern stereotypes of native people.

Leighton Peterson, assistant professor of anthropology, said these films don't often make it to broadcast television.

"Students need to take advantage of these things that they will never see turning on HBO," Leighton Peterson said.

Leighton Peterson stressed the uniqueness of this festival. When speaking about filmmakers like Bennie Klain and Regan Tarbell who are attending the festival, Leighton Peterson said, "We have some bigwigs coming."

Tarbell is the film curator for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian Film and Video Center and is co-curator of the festival. Klain is the co-producer of the 2000 Sundance Film Festival selection, The Return of Navajo Boy.

"The fact that we have the filmmakers here on campus is what makes it truly special," Leighton Peterson said.

While hearing about Native American issues from anthropology experts can be beneficial, Peterson believes this information will have more of an impact because it's coming directly from Native Americans.

"Miami was willing to host Native Americans who are experts about themselves," Leighton Peterson said.

The A.T. Hansen Lecture Fund is supporting the festival. The fund is named after Miami's first anthropology professor, Asael T. Hansen, who left Miami to study Japanese internment camps in the 1940s. Two of his students, George H. Fathauer and Johanne Wainwright Fathauer, were so influenced by Hansen that they came back to Miami to become anthropology professors themselves. In 1990 they created this fund to honor their mentor.

"A. T. Hansen was extremely dedicated to anthropology because he believed that it gave a voice to the marginalized people who may not have access to power and wealth," said Mark Peterson, acting chair of the anthropology department.

Senior Sarah Quaint, an anthropology major, said Miami students aren't very familiar with the university's native history.

"It's something that is mystified," Quaint said. "People don't know what is going on right near them. The Native American culture is right there."

She hopes the festival will help remove stereotypes associated with the modern American Indian culture.

Leighton Peterson said people often think of Native Americans being in the past. "Showcasing the best of contemporary native cinema is one way to engage and counter that stereotype," he said. "Hopefully by watching these stories they will understand that indigenous people are as much about the future as they are about the past."

Screenings are free and open to the public. They will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Nov. 4 and 5 in 322 McGuffey Hall and from 4 to 6 p.m. Nov. 6 in 212 MacMillan Hall.