All programs subject to change.

Why Save a Language? (2006, 27 min.) US. Director: Sally Thompson. Produced by: Regional Learning Project, University of Montana. Tribe members explain why Native languages are important, and discuss historic and contemporary issues and their language revitalization efforts.

Female Rain – Nilts'a Bi'áád (2006, 2 min.) US. Director: Velma K. Craig (Navajo). In English and Navajo. In a piece based on a poem by Navajo writer Laura Tohe, the filmmaker expresses her love of the Navajo language.

The Last Trek (2006, 30 min.) US. Director: Ramona Emerson (Navajo). Producer: Kelly Byars (Choctaw). Elder Helen Bitsilly is one of the few Navajo people who still make the arduous journey on foot twice a year to take their sheep to distant grazing lands. The filmmaker follows Bitsilly on what the elder has said will be her last trek.

A display of works by the 2009 Native American Student Artist Competition winners.

Tainá–Kan, The Big Star (2005, 16 min.) Brazil. Adriana Figueiredo. A traditional tale of the Karaja Indians of Brazil tells a story of Tainá–Kan, the big star Venus, who comes to earth as a man and gives the gift of agriculture. In Portuguese with English subtitles.
The Legend of Quillwork Girl and her Seven Star Brothers (2003, 14 min.) U.S. Steve Barron. This Cheyenne legend about a skillful girl and her brothers explains how the Big Dipper originated. This selection from the award-winning feature Dreamkeeper is shown courtesy of Hallmark Entertainment.
Letter from an Apache (1983, 12 min.) U.S. Barbara Wilk. An animated film tells the remarkable story of Carlos Montezuma, or Wassajah, who became one of the first American Indian medical doctors.
Maq and the Spirit of the Woods (2006, 8 min.) Canada. Phyllis Grant (Mi'kmaq). A gentle elder—the spirit of the woods—teaches Maq to appreciate his own special gifts.

Always Becoming
(2007, 17 min.) Director: Dax Thomas (Laguna/Acoma)
Artist Nora Naranjo-Morse (Tewa, Santa Clara Pueblo), the first Native American woman to create an outdoor sculpture in Washington, D.C., discusses the artistic process of creating an original sculpture in the landscape of the National Museum of the American Indian. She and her team explain the origin of ideas, the materials, and the people who helped in its creation.

No Screenings June 2 – 6, 11, 13, July 18, August 20 and September 12. Programs are subject to change.

A Thousand Roads (2005, 40 min.) US. Director: Chris Eyre (Cheyenne/Arapaho). A Thousand Roads is a fictional work, produced by NMAI to explore the human context of the NMAI's collections. The film is striking visually, and presents through its beauty and its stories an imaginative entry into knowing about Native people living in the vast indigenous geography that comprises the Americas. Rather than presenting a conventional historical perspective, the film is composed of short contemporary fictions about individuals, grounding them in emotional truths to which an audience can easily relate. The film threads together four stories, taking us into the life of a stressed-out Mohawk stockbroker in Manhattan; a young Inupiat girl sent to live with her grandmother in Barrow, Alaska; a Navajo gang member who must find his core values in his reservation on the mesas of New Mexico; and a Quechua healer in Peru, attempting to save a sick child. Each story explores what it means to belong to a specific community.

More than a Museum (2007, 10 min.) US. Produced by: the National Museum of the American Indian. A brief look at the history of the National Museum of the American Indian in New York and its dynamic programs.

Snowsnake: Game of the Haudenosaunee (2006, 11 min.) US. Produced by: the NMAI Resource Center, George Gustav Heye Center. Featuring master snow snake maker and player Fred Kennedy (Seneca), this video introduces the lively traditional game that's played today by Iroquois men in competitions throughout Haudenosaunee lands in the Northeast and in Canada.

Curator of the Annie Pootoogook contemporary art exhibit, Ms. Campbell will lead visitors through the exhibit and discuss the history and development of the project.

Tanya Tagaq (Inuit) is a unique performer who has taken her love and respect of the ancient musical tradition of throat singing from her native Nunavut and mixed it with a powerful infusion of contemporary styles. She has collaborated with Bjork, Kronos Quartet, and Mike Patton (Faith No More/Mr. Bungle) and was named winner of the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards "Best Female Artist" of 2008.

This performance is presented in collaboration with Lincoln Center Out of Doors and Americas Society.