Welcome to Native Networks Close-ups.
Take a close-up look at what's going on in the world of Native media and some of the people and organizations that make it happen.

House Made of Dawn: A Closer Look

The film adaptation of Kiowa author N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, House Made of Dawn, represents an important moment in the history of the Native American image on film. Scripted by Momaday and director Richardson Morse, House Made of Dawn stars Larry Littlebird as a young Pueblo man in crisis. The Film and Video Center, with the support of the American Film Institute and The Film Foundation, created a new print of the House Made of Dawn (1972) which premieres in December 2005. In celebration, we take a closer look at the film, with an essay by film scholar Joanna Hearne and interviews with the author, the director, and the lead actor.

Mapping Mexican Media: Indigenous and Community Video and Radio

For over a decade indigenous videomakers in Mexico's rural and urban communities have been creating rich and varied views of Native life and concerns. Their work reflects both the diversity of Native peoples in Mexico and visions that are shared. This feature looks at the history, the people, the organizations, the works, and includes resources for further information.

Rolando Klein Interview

Chilean-born filmmaker Rolando Klein is best known for his feature Chac, an "ethno-narrative" screened widely on the festival circuit in the mid-seventies. Chac went on to gain an enduring popular audience in home video. NMAI screened a newly restored print in June as part of its 2005 At the Movies series. Klein's account of filming Chac in Tenejapa, Mexico, provides a rich historical counterpoint to the work discussed in Indigenous and Community Video in Mexico.

Peter Bratt Interview

Peter Bratt's first film, Follow Me Home, won the Best Director Award at the 1996 American Indian Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best Feature at the 1996 San Francisco International Film Festival. This "road-trip" film is itself still on the road, on the non-profit lecture circuit, continuing to engage audiences with its ideas about America as a multi-cultural society. Follow Me Home screened at the NMAI in the 2004 At the Movies series.

Carlos Efraín Pérez Rojas Interview

Carlos Efraín Pérez Rojas (Mixe) has worked with the Chiapas Media Project since 1999, and is currently the organization’s coordinator in the state of Guerrero. He recently received the Reebok Human Rights Award for his work there. Perez has directed two videos on indigenous issues in Guerrero: Reclaiming Justice: Guerrero's Indigenous Community Police (2002) and Eyes on What’s Inside: The Militarization of Guerrero (2005) which documents the experiences of two women who were victimized by members of the Mexican military.

Vilsoni Hereniko Interview

Vilsoni Hereniko, professor of Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawai'ian and an accomplished playwright, is the director of The Land Has Eyes/Pear ta ma 'on maf, the first feature film made by a native of Fiji. Since its premiere at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival the film has been screened widely, most recently at First Nations\First Features: A Showcase of World Indigenous Cinema. Hereniko, raised in Mea on the island of Rotuma, based his film, in part, on his experience growing up on there. He was interviewed in New York, when the film screened in the 2004 At the Movies series.

Evan Adams Interview

Evan Adams is Coast Salish from the Sliammon Band near Powell River, British Columbia, Canada. He is an award-winning actor, a resident physician at St. Paul's hospital in Vancouver, and, most recently, a film director. His documentary on the Sliammon First Nation’s fight for treaty rights, Kla Ah Men, has its world premiere at the 2003 Native American Film and Video Festival. Evan sat down to talk about his second feature film collaboration with writer/director Sherman Alexie, The Business of Fancydancing. The film was screened at the NMAI in June 2003 as part of the At the Movies series.