Native American Festival in London, UK

[Freija]

Just to let you know about the Native Festival in UK in October.

We got an invitation to submit our film, Spirits for Sale, to this festival - they do not advertise for submissions but select films by reputation.

I haven´t heard about this event before but it sure seems interesting.
Anyone in UK who has attended or know more about it?

Should our film be accepted, I will sure be there!

http://www.nativespiritfestival.com

[czech]

Hello Freija,

I am curious, did you find out anything about this festival/foundation? I would be very interested in hearing others' opinion on it, too.
Current link:
http://www.nativespiritfoundation.org/

Their website says:
Native Spirit Foundation is a UK registered charity promoting education and the protection of the rights of Indigenous peoples.
It was founded and is directed by the indigenous Mapuche artist and filmmaker Freddy Treuquil. Native Spirit is an independent organisation, run by volunteers.
Native Spirit supports Educational projects in indigenous communities in South America. We work with the concept of “The New School”, a proposal for autonomous education based on an indigenous understanding of life.
Since 2007, the organisation has produced the annual Native Spirit Festival celebrating indigenous culture with film screenings, workshops and performances taking place in various cities across the UK and Spain.
Throughout the year Native Spirit holds special events, fundraisers and workshops generating a permanent platform in Europe for a dialogue between the indigenous world and modern societies

I find it interesting that they quote the rainbow warrior prophecy (I have read the thread on it here):

An old prophecy says:
When the Condor of the South meets the Eagle of the North, the warriors of the rainbow will be born. When the tears from these birds are merged, the warriors of light will be born.”

They also say they are engaged in projects such as building a school in Patagonia, building new sports facilities in Bolivia.

If someone would take the time to look at the website and share their opinion on it, I would very much appreciate it.

[Freija]

I was there, together with the director. Our film was screened at Amnesty International in London and we were honoured to take part in a round-the-table discussion afterwards together with indigenous people. It was a good event with quite a lot of people attending. The films we saw were very much down to earth, focusing on the truth - whether it was everyday life or information about the past.
Nothing New Agy at all. It was well organised and they had done a good job of promoting it.

We stayed with one of the organisers. He is South American, lives in UK but is going back to do volontaire work for Native communities every year. He told us the founder was inspired by the prophecy about the condor and the eagle meeting - that´s why he wanted this filmfestival to be an opportunity to build bridges between Natives and non-Natives.

I liked the Filmfestival as such. Many good films and great opportunities for New Agers to speak to Natives. But I don´t know anything about the projects, the fundraising and where the money goes.