Canoe Way: The Sacred Journey

Puyallup Canoe Family

Screening February 20, 2010 @ 5:00 pm Northwest Film Forum (Director and some Puyallup Canoe Family participants in attendance)

Each summer, tribes and First Nations from Oregon, Washington, Canada and Alaska, follow their ancestral pathways – traveling hundreds of miles through the waters of Puget Sound, Inside Passage and the Northwest Coast during the event known as Tribal Journeys. Families and youth reconnect with the past and with each other. Ancient songs, dances, regalia, ceremonies, and language that were almost lost, are coming back.

Witness the contemporary resurgence of the cedar canoe societies and how it has opened a spiritual path of healing through tradition for Coast Salish Native Americans. This inspiring 54-minute documentary contains interviews with elders and youth, songs and dances from tribal canoe families, and powerful canoe ceremonies.

Indigenous Showcase

Northwest Film Forum partners with Longhouse Media and National Geographic All Roads Film Project to present a monthly series showcasing emerging talents in indigenous communities. This exciting program exemplifies how Native American and indigenous filmmakers are at the forefront of the industry, successfully establishing a dialogue and creating images that are challenging and changing long established cultural attitudes towards indigenous culture. For more film information and show-times, please check http://www.nwfilmforum.org

December’s Indigenous Showcase: Raven Tales

Please join Longhouse Media

in partnership with National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project and Northwest Film Forum for the December Indigenous Showcase on

Saturday December 19th at 5pm

at the Northwest Film Forum for the screening of Raven Tales!

Raven Tales is the multiple  award-winning series of CGI (Computer-Generated Imaging) animated television/film programs, targeted at school-age children and their families. Starring Dr. Evan Adams, of Smoke Signals fame and winner of the AIFF Best Actor Award, Raven Tales features Native American folklore developed to appeal to a broad international audience in a contemporary, humorous and entertaining way. Raven Tales concentrates on the wild and funny adventures of Raven, the most powerful, and one might add, trickiest troublemaker of Native American folklore.

The Raven Tales centers its humor on the interactions of its re-occurring ensemble cast. The three principal characters, Raven, Eagle and Frog, anchor the show and provide familiar faces and humorous antics that feature widely in each episode. Along with the principle characters are a cast of humans, their children and a group of mythological creatures whose foibles and flaws give our heroes plenty to worry about. And with 10,000 years of market research to support them, these stories are surefire hits with any audience!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Indigenous Showcase “Super Amigos”

Longhouse Media in partnership with Northwest Film Forum and National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project will be hosting the monthly Indigenous Showcase Saturday November 28th at 1:00pm in the Northwest Film Forum.

While it isn’t an outright comedy by any means, “Super Amigos” contains a fair amount of comedic flair with its witty dialogue and interwoven comic-book segues that keep the film emotionally light and engaging. “Super Amigos” is an important dissection of Mexican society as these masked characters tackle serious, globally relevant issues. The film’s credibility lies in the fact that the luchadores are not substance lacking, physically chiseled superhero wannabes blindly going out in public to save the world with no reasonable intent or purpose. They happen to be well-educated activists (some for over 20 years) that have a specific aim to bring pressing national concerns to the forefront and transform Mexican society for the better. The luchador mask simply serves as a highly respected national iconic symbol to help rally Mexican citizens in the fight for change, a mere façade for what is more important.

Please join us for this exciting program that shows how Native American and indigenous filmmakers are at the forefront of the industry, successfully establishing a dialogue and creating images that are challenging, changing long established cultural attitudes towards indigenous culture. We look forward to seeing you there!