Thursday November 5
National Indian Heritage Month
Navajos Film Themselves
In 1966, Sol Worth and Jon Adair conducted an experiment at a Navajo reservation in Pine Springs, Arizona, "to determine whether it is possible to teach people with a technically simple culture to make motion pictures depicting their culture and themselves as they see fit." Interpid Shadows by Al Clah is one of the most complex films and least understood by other Navajos and has been called by Margaret Mead as "one of the finest examples of animism shown on film." It deals with subjective rather than objective aspects of Navajo life. Clah in this film attempts to reconcile the Western notion of God with his traditional Navajo notions. (18 min.) The Navajo Silversmith by Johnny Nelson traces the creation of some small Yebitchai silver figures, from mining the silver to the finished figure. (27 min.) A Navajo Weaver by Susie Benally depicts her mother weaving at the loom and includes all the necessary preparatory steps. (22 min.) Old Antelope Lake by Mike Anderson shows the source of the lake and moves around the lake portraying the unity of natural things and human beings in the environment. (11 min.) The Spirit of the Navajos by Maxine and Mary J. Tsosie begins with an old medicine man looking for roots to use in a curing ceremony. He prepares for a sand painting, and part of the actual ceremony is featured. (21 min.) All films are silent.