NAFPS Forum

Since June last year I´ve had the idea of making a documentary film about the exploitation, the violation of spirituality and the issues that Natives of today face. Funny enough I happened to run into a cameraman who liked the idea and so we started to work on the script. Over here TV has got to say yes to the project otherwise it´s almost impossible to get fundings and it is extremely hard to get their approval. But after having rewritten the script endless times, some weeks ago we got a "yes"! Unbelievable!

TV only finances 40% of the costs so now we have until 27th of May to come up with the rest of the fundings or they will pull back the offer. It´s very tough! The film will be called "Spirits for Sale" and will be shot mostly in the US, and the three persons figuring in the film will be Trisha, Al and Arvol Looking Horse. (Who will end the film by saying "Spirits are NOT for sale!!")

TV reckons they will be able to sell it to countries all over Europe and has planned airing it in the spring of 2007 with the first show at the Scandinavian Film Festival in January.

So - because I am getting pretty desperate here and would hate to see this go down the drain - if anyone has got any bright ideas of filmproducers or people in media or any other organisations willing to co-produce, pleaseeeee let me know! The clock is ticking. This film would mean so much for informing Europeans about the harm being done to Natives.

Thanks!
Annika

THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

We´re doing everything we possibly can over here to find fundings but I think we need help from just about everywhere to pull this through. I have my regular job to attend to so it´s hard to find the time you need.

I have, however, got a couple of contacts through Arvol and Paula, so I´m trying them out. We´d probably need more than one Assistant Producer anyway.

The Project is available in writing should anyone want details.  I´ll keep you updated for sure..

Annika

As a practitioner of Lakota/Dakota/Native spirituality, as an enrolled member of Dakota and Assiniboine nations, as the father of 2 Indian children, as the husband of a Indian woman, as a individual who has addressed these issues at some personal cost, please find below my unsolicited input regarding the email broadcast I received regarding this topic.

Having interacted with high level (their terminology) television executives in America and personally requested that they fund and support an advisory panel regarding Native issues and concerns, I can tell you that they are absolutely not supportive of any such agendas here or elsewhere. These American broadcast corporate giants have tentacles that encircle the globe and I am curious how much influence they will have over their European cousins. When protesting major network broadcast content designed to ignore native rights, one network representatives response was that they (the networks) have and obligation to report information that was in the public interest. When Native interests sought to publicize native viewpoints, they were ignored and shunned. Somehow, only the white/American network people's viewpoints, propaganda and agendas to demonize native interests, are in the public interest.

Today, we have white folks and Uncle Tomahawks who claim to support Native issues and viewpoints. These are often the same people running the governmental affairs of the BIA etc. They have manufactured programs and agendas that rarely reflect justice for Indian people. These white folks who claim to support Native issues and viewpoints have placed themselves in leadership and policy making positions in order to continue supporting non-Natives entities that profit monetarily from the exploitation of everything Native.

Perhaps, in your efforts to dissuade European people and others from appropriating, exploiting and bastardizing Native culture and people, you might also petition those Euros who have, or are considering immigrating here, to request that they return to their respective cultures/lands and stop occupying native lands.

I realize that some might consider such a request racist and outrageous ... I acknowledge that equality and justice are quite extravagant requests to a country and world steeped in and built upon the tenets of institutional colonial racism. Nonetheless, recognizing and granting Natives America its rights, is a fair way to deliver truth and untangle the web of evil lies of evil empires disguised as colonial saviors.

Good Luck and Best Regards

Barry Zevan produced a documentary for The Indian Land Tenure Foundation. I've seen it and it was well done. Perhaps this could be a resource for you.

Barry ZeVan,
Writer-director Barry ZeVan, who is based in Minneapolis, has garnered three Emmy nominations for numerous other documentaries to his credit; his work has been shown on HBO, PBS and Bravo. His credits include consulting executive producer for “The Remarkable 20 th Century.

ZeVan can be contacted through Chris Stainbrook on the Foundations website. Stainbrook may be able to help you as well.
cstainbrook@indianlandtenure.org


http://www.indianlandtenure.org/announcements/announcements.htm

Annika:

I'm at the British Museum this weekend at a Native Film Festival http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/filmfestival/index.html

I'm going to print up the email I was sent from the forum and pass it on to anyone who might be able to help... (shame I didn't have any with me tonight, Sir David Attenborough was there....)

bobby

I am so glad to inform you that we now have a Native co-producer to the film! He is a relative of Arvol´s and has produced several films before, some of them dealing with the abuse of spirituality.

This is great, especially since the co-producers are Lakota and they will see to that everything is done in a correct way. I am sure they will also be helpful with contacts. This means that the Native producer will have all the rights to the film in the US and so gets all the profit from it over there  

There are fundings available in the States for this project and we are slowly getting there, having covered about 70% of the costs. 2 1/2 months to go....

Annika