| |
|
Archive for the 'In Recent News' Category
Monday, June 9th, 2008
“A spokesman for the Japanese cabinet said Friday that the government would officially recognize the Ainu [backgrounder] - an ethnic minority mainly concentrated on Japan’s Hokkaido island who traditionally lived by hunting, gathering and fishing - as an indigenous population after both houses of the country’s parliament unanimously endorsed a non-binding resolution urging the move. The spokesman added that the government will establish a committee to discuss measures to protect members of the group. The long-resisted official recognition comes in response to Japan’s obligations under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People [PDF text], passed [JURIST report] by the UN General Assembly last September with Japan’s support. This will be the first time that Japan has recognized a group as indigenous. Bloomberg has more. The Mainichi Daily News has local coverage.”
“The Japanese government has long been accused of discriminating against the Ainu, despite a 1997 law [text] meant to protect Ainu rights. Previous to that, the Ainu fell under the 1899 Hokkaido Former Aborigine Protection Law, which promoted their assimilation with mainstream Japanese society. Experts say that the government’s traditional assimilation policy [CWIS backgrounder] and wide-spread discrimination have reduced the Ainu population and has led to the group trailing behind the rest of the nation in education and income.”
[Source]
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
Image: cyberTRIBE
the other APT has been selected for inclusion in the 2008 Biennale of Sydney’s Online Venue. As part of the forthcoming Biennale, Revolutions – Forms That Turn, Artistic Director Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev has selected digital artworks and texts to be featured in its Online Venue. The exhibition as a whole and the Online Venue particularly, focuses on the different ways artists have ‘revolutionised’ contemporary art. It explores the impulse to revolt, rotating, turning upside down, shifting points of view, revolving, mirroring and reversing as formal devices, as well as chart their broader aesthetic, psychological, psychoanalytical, radical and political perspectives.
Held over the 2006/2007 summer in Brisbane the other APT was a multi-artform exhibition that coincided with and questioned the Queensland Art Gallerys 5th Asia Pacific Triennial, with a similar focus – of art within the Asia-Pacific region, but with local artists included. Presented by cyberTribe which has a history of almost a decade in Online Curating, the exhibition website allowed audiences for the other APT to be far reaching internationally, along with the celebration and exhibition program held at Raw Space Galleries in Brisbane. Curator Jenny Fraser says of the exhibition “The primary curatorial premise of the other APT was to show artworks from Indigenous Australian Artists, and also show meaningful works from other Artists that may constitute them as a friend in culture and good visitor to this country, in meaningful dialogue and otherwise. In other words, Aboriginals actively engaging with each other, and those from other cultural backgrounds - Torres Strait Islander, Melanesian, Maori, Samoan, Japanese, Filipino and others from outside the Asia-Pacific Rim, providing a true survey, commenting on individual and shared experience. Naturally some of these works are collaborations - existing works, and also works produced especially for the other APT, but all really important discourse, culturally and historically. It is important that it has been acknowledged by the Curator of the Biennale of Sydney.”
The Online Venue will provide a wider context to the physical 2008 Biennale of Sydney, as well as constitute a space of its own. The Online Venue is the first of its kind in the world and thus a revolutionary form of presentation for the Biennale. With an emphasis on exploration and discovery, the non-linear navigation allows the user to explore and view artworks in an intuitive way. The Biennales website presents a selection of artist projects in a dynamic constellation. Works are linked together by curatorial themes. Each visit to the site presents a new set of linked works to view, keeping the site fresh and brimming with new juxtapositions. the other APT , has also been invited to tour to the Tjibaou Cultural Centre in Noumea, New Caledonia later this year.
Sunday, June 1st, 2008
<---------<
A recent Yahoo news item trumpeted the discovery of an Amazonian tribe who have had no contact with the outside world. Judging from this photograph they’d like to keep it that way. For more from the assholes who undoubtedly were flying in the plane from which these images were taken go here: Source.
Friday, May 16th, 2008
<---<
There is a Brazillian rainforest re-creation complete with real live Amazon Indians for our gawking pleasure down at Manhattan’s South Street Seaport from now until sometime in July.
The press release states, “The Amazon Jungle Comes Alive in the Concrete Jungle.When diverse cultures meet…In this 13,000-square-foot re-creation of the Amazon, visitors can experience firsthand the sights, sounds and wonders of life in the Brazilian Amazon, including its biodiversity, people, villages and cities. Visitors will be able to interact directly with communities living in the heart of the forest via the Internet, and meet shamans and artisans from the region in person.”
<---<
Sounds fun, no? Not only do you get to interact with the real live Indian shamen/artisans you also get to cyber-chat with their friends and family back in their rainforest home! I mean, holy shit who knew they hand internet access in the Amazon? Well, actually the National Museum of the American Indian recently hosted a video series created by and about the indigenous people of the Amazon. So clearly, they are tech saavy, but I’m curious to see how this rainforest and it’s inhabitants are presented outside of their natural context, and in a touristy area of Lower Manhattan, no less. The idea of shamen/artisans on display for the tourist masses (because that’s about all that hang down at the Seaport) in what amounts to a 3-D interactive museum-style exhibition harkens directly to James Luna’s “Artifact Piece” recently re-enacted by Erica Lord, also at the NMAI. This warrants a what the fuck!?, fo sho! Because no matter which way you spin it it still exoticizes not only the people of the rainforest, but the environment itself, and consequently, re-enforces the notion of native people, their homes, and lifeways as anthro-archaelogical curiosities. But let’s not be too hasty nor cynical. Perhaps nuances were added to challenge my assumptions? Of course, I will go down to investigate! This Sunday, in fact, though it will cost me $16.00, but I would have spent that on less enligtening situations-like happy hour.
More to come!
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
photo: courtesy Lucky magazine April 2008 edition
<
Brought to you by a “slightly” Native American looking Asian style editor at Lucky magazine. I bet she has dressed up as a “slightly sexy” Pocahontas on Halloween, and I bet she wore that bracelet too!
Frankly the only time I want to feel “slightly Native American” is when I have a long night of drinking ahead of me. Those Indians sure do know how to pace themselves! I envy them.
Saturday, May 10th, 2008
“Dances with Wolves Sequel Goes Into Production”
That’s right kids! More movie-making magic coming your way soon! Now, on top of remaking The Lone Ranger, some clever people in Hollywood are cooking up a tasty sequel to Dances with Wolves. YESSS.
“A sequel to Dances With Wolves entitled The Holy Road has just gone into pre-production with Simon Wincer at the helm. According to Variety, the film will be produced by Moonstone, Amicus Entertainment and Double Eagle Films.
The plot picks up eleven years after Wolves left off. The Comanche tribe is in steady decline, and the threat of white settlers looms on the horizon. The Holy Road refers to the transcontinental railroad. The Indian population saw it as a symbol of evil.“[Source]
A note for the ladies: Sadly, Kevin Costner will not be reprising his monotonical “role”, BUUUT none other than Viggo Mortensen is in talks to be filling Kevin’s shoes. And honestly, I think he’s perfect for it. I can’t think of a better guy to befriend Indians with his shirt off. Maybe there will be a naked shower fighting scene too??
 xoxo
Thursday, April 17th, 2008
The 11th annual Cine Las Americas International Film Festival started Wednesday the 16th and runs through April 24th. NAICA spoke with Director of Programming, Jacqueline Rush Rivera on the direction of the festival this year, must see films, new venues and where CLA is going (and they are going places) in the coming years. If you are in Austin, Tx or the surrounding areas in the coming week, make sure to take advantage of the excellent screening opportunities facilitated by this intimate and intelligently programmed film festival. And don’t forget to listen to the podcast below!
To learn more about the festival, the screening venues, and to view a film schedule visit www.cinelasamericas.org.
“The mission of Cine Las Americas is to promote cross-cultural understanding and growth by educating, entertaining and challenging the diverse Central Texas community through film and media arts.”
(F.Y.I. click on ‘download’ to listen to podcast. the popup player is acting a little kooky on this one.)
Monday, April 14th, 2008
15th Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
Join us for the WORLD PREMIERE of imagineNATIVE award-winning director Tracey Deer’s new film
CLUB NATIVE
Friday April 18, 6:30pm
BE THE FIRST TO EMAIL info@imagineNATIVE.org and WIN TWO FREE TICKETS
Bloor Cinema
******
Sunday April 20, 2:15pm
Royal Ontario Museum
Tracey won Best Documentary for her feature, MOHAWK GIRLS at imagineNATIVE in 2005. Her new film is a brave look at the lives of four inspiring and eloquent women (including Waneek Horn-Miller) whose lives are forever changed when they fall in love with the wrong guys and “marry out” of their Mohawk Nation.
CLUB NATIVE, Canada, 78 min.
Falling in love with the wrong person can have devastating repercussions for Mohawks on the Kahnawake reserve in Quebec. Award-winning director Tracey Deer takes a courageous look at her home community, raising questions of identity, history and tradition through the lives of four inspiring Mohawk women. With warmth, depth and humour, stories unfold about the heartbreaking costs of “marrying out” of their Mohawk Nation, the challenges faced by kids of mixed backgrounds, and the conflict between love and preserving the fabric of their community. Having children with the men they love can mean forfeiting their offspring’s legal native status, including the right to live with their families on the reserve. The film doesn’t flinch from the history of Canada’s racist and sexist government policy, including the brutal force used against them during the Oka Crisis in 1990. A groundbreaking film and a powerful story of the triumph of love and the human spirit.
TO BUY TICKETS:
http://hotdocsaudience.bside.com/2008/films/clubnative_hotdocs2008
Daytime Screenings Tickets (before 6 pm) $10, evening screenings (between 6 pm-11 pm) are $12 each and Late Night Screenings (after 11PM) are $5. Order advance tickets and pass sales at the DOCUMENTARY Box Office (87 Avenue Road, 2 Blocks North of Bloor, upper level of Hazelton Lanes), online at www.hotdocs.ca, or by phone at 416-637-5150. On the day of the screening, all daytime screenings are FREE for students and seniors with valid ID, courtesy of the Toronto Star.
Hot Docs runs from April 17-27th. Visit www.hotdocs.ca for further information and detailed film descriptions.
Umiaq Skin Boat
Jobie Weetaluktuk
6:45 PM Fri, Apr 18
plays with...
Shock Waves - another great film about the power of independent radio to radically transform and empower the people of the troubled Democratic Republic of Congo
Al Green Theatre
12:00 PM Sun, Apr 20
plays with… Shock Waves
Royal Ontario Museum Theatre
Jobie Weetaluktuk’s previous film, Urban Inuk, was a huge success at imagineNATIVE in 2005.
Run time: 31 min. | Canada | Language: Inuktitut
Against the harsh Arctic magnificence of Inukjuak, Quebec Inuit elders share intimate personal stories and remarkable tales of survival as they build the first traditional seal skin boat their community has seen in more than 50 years. Once an essential vessel for travelling and hunting, the umiaq has been usurped by canoes powered with outboard motors. Traditional survival skills are melting away as rapidly as the ice caps in the North where sugar, warm houses and video games are the new necessities. UMIAQ exquisitely connects the boat’s construction to building cultural cohesion through anchoring a community in its rich history. In Inuktitut with English subtitles.
To Buy tickets:
http://hotdocsaudience.bside.com/2008/films/umiaqskinboat_hotdocs2008
Hot Docs Box Office: 416 637 5150
Www.hotdocs.ca
Friday, April 4th, 2008
CINE LAS AMERICAS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
OPENING AND CLOSING FILMS ANNOUNCED
 Austin-TX, March 24- The 11th Cine Las Americas International Film Festival will celebrate its opening night on Wednesday, April 16th at the Paramount Theatre, located in downtown Austin, Texas with the screening of the documentary feature SEPTIEMBRES (SEPTEMBERS) directed by Carles Bosh.
The festival will close on Thursday, April 24th with the screening of COCHOCHI, directed by Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar.
The Cine Las Americas International Film Festival is a nine-day annual event that screens new work made by or about Latino and indigenous people of the Americas. The festival screens narrative and documentary features, short films, experimental work, animation, and youth films in both competitive and non-competitive sections. This event is complemented with repertoire and special screenings. This year approximately 80 different films will screen on April 16 - April 24 at venues throughout Austin.
(more…)
Monday, March 24th, 2008
 In a recent press release posted to The Hollywood Reporter website it was revealed that Canadian actor, Adam Beach, would be a juror for this year’s All-Access “minority” film-maker program. That’s pretty decent news given the company in which Adam will be judging; such autueurs and art- film tastemakers as Jesse L. Martin, Damon Dash (WTF?), and Joy Bryant (!?) who are but a few of the total 10 jurors who will participate in the fifth annual Tribeca All Access program. Basically all a bunch of actors judging film. Again, actors judging film. Good Lord?
So Jesse L. Martin is o.k. I guess. He’s been around-on T.V.- for a long while, but “Who the fuck is Joy Bryant?”, you may be asking yourself.
Well I will tell you who she is, a wannabe actress who’s few credits, besides modeling for Tommy Hilfiger, include playing the “understanding girlfriend” in Denzel Washington’s Antwone Fisher. Wow with credentials like that it’s a wonder she hasn’t sat on the jury at Cannes. (She probably has!)
Don’t even get me started on Damon Dash! He definitely don’t know shit about shit let alone film making. But hey he’s married to that hot Rachel Roy chick and that’s goos enough, right?
Anyway, I can see why you’d pick an actor who happens to be Aboriginal from Canada as a juror-though I doubt his judging capabilities-but Damon Dash and Joy Bryant?
But if I were a filmmaker going through the All-Access program this year I would be shitting my pants in trepidation and protest!
|
|
|
|
|
|
