City and County of San Francisco

WHEREAS, the annual American Indian Film Festival was founded in 1975 in Seattle, WA and then moved to its permanent home in San Francisco in 1977 and then incorporated its governing body, the (AIFI), two years later in 1979; and WHEREAS, as the nation’s most prominent outlet for Native American films, the American Indian Film Festival will premiere over 80 new feature films, shorts, public service, music videos and documentaries of USA American Indian and Canada First Nation communities at this year’s event; and WHEREAS, the goals of AIFI are inherently educational: to encourage Native/non-Native filmmakers to bring to the broader media culture the Native voices, viewpoints and stories that have been historically excluded from mainstream media; to establish Indian and non-Indian audiences for this work; and to advocate tirelessly for authentic representations of Indians in the media. WHEREAS, the AIFI uses the medium of film as a tool to preserve and record their heritage, and as a vehicle for Indians and non-Indians alike to challenge damaging stereotypes and replace them with multi-dimensional images that reflect the complexity of Native peoples;now THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that I, Gavin Newsom, Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco, do hereby proclaim November 7-15, 2008 as American Indian Film Festival Week in San Francisco!