Photo
October 14, 2012
39 notes
feministfilm: Sandra Sunrising Osawa is a Makah woman who forged her career in commercial nonfiction television, beginning with producing documentary series about Native Americans for NBC in the 1970s. Osawa’s work often explores the nuances between sovereignty and the environment, as in 1995’s Lighting the 7th Fire, a PBS POV special about struggles over spear-fishing rights in Wisconsin, and 2000’s Unusual and Accustomed Places, which chronicles fishing rights battles for the Makah in Washington. In 2000, she produced and directed a documentary about Oneida stand-up comic Charlie Hill, called On & Off the Res’ w/Charlie Hill. For Osawa, who worked in education and cultural preservation before turning to filmmaking, media is a tool for not only revitalization but decolonization: “I think media has long been an overlooked part of our struggles and true sovereignty cannot exist until we are truly able to tell our own stories.”“ Here’s a biography with info about more of her work. Here’s an interview with her.

feministfilm:

Sandra Sunrising Osawa is a Makah woman who forged her career in commercial nonfiction television, beginning with producing documentary series about Native Americans for NBC in the 1970s.

Osawa’s work often explores the nuances between sovereignty and the environment, as in 1995’s Lighting the 7th Fire, a PBS POV special about struggles over spear-fishing rights in Wisconsin, and 2000’s Unusual and Accustomed Places, which chronicles fishing rights battles for the Makah in Washington. In 2000, she produced and directed a documentary about Oneida stand-up comic Charlie Hill, called On & Off the Res’ w/Charlie Hill.

For Osawa, who worked in education and cultural preservation before turning to filmmaking, media is a tool for not only revitalization but decolonization: “I think media has long been an overlooked part of our struggles and true sovereignty cannot exist until we are truly able to tell our own stories.”“

Here’s a biography with info about more of her work. Here’s an interview with her.

Tags: colonialism comedy documentaries female directors film indigenous issues sandra osawa original rgr

Video
October 09, 2011
42 notes

feministfilm:

“Two Spirits interweaves the tragic story of a mother’s loss of her son with a revealing look at a time when the world wasn’t simply divided into male and female and many Native American cultures held places of honor for people of integrated genders.

Fred Martinez was nádleehí, a male-bodied person with a feminine nature, a special gift according to his ancient Navajo culture. But the place where two discriminations meet is a dangerous place to live, and Fred became one of the youngest hate-crime victims in modern history when he was brutally murdered at sixteen.”

Would anyone like to offer comment on this film?  Submit or ask!  Or, especially, does anyone know of any Two Spirit, Indigenous, Navajo, or Trans people who have written or spoken about the film or about Martinez that I could post here? 

Director Lydia Nibley will be speaking in one of my classes tomorrow, so look forward to more posts about her!  If you have any questions that you’d like me to ask the director, I might be able to oblige.  Drop them my way.

Tags: race gender queer issues two spirit documentaries indigenous issues navajo fred martinez lydia nibley female directors nádleehí