“Forget Winnetou: Going Beyond Native Stereotypes in Germany” is an upcoming documentary by Timo Kiesel & Red Haircrow. Exploring themes of racism, stereotyping and erasure that Native Americans face living and working in Germany, despite German fascination with the indigenous peoples of North America.
Website: https://forgetwinnetou.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/forgetwinnetou/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forgetwinnetoufilm/
“Whether from novels, non-native historians and so-called native experts, US systematic, institutional racism and white privilege caused the spread of misinformation and misinterpretation of natives around the world. In the US, native stereotypes and Eurocentric perspectives at times nearly subsumed real natives and their reality.
From kindergarten to post-doctoral university, misinformation and skewed history has miseducated generations. Whether in books, film, pop culture and fashion or on sport fields as mascots, native identities have been stolen, and that theft justified with a sense of ownership and superiority. Disregard or dismissal of native concerns continues to be widespread, along with minimization of the challenges native peoples face to represent and present themselves due to resistance. These attitudes and behaviors also spread to and flourished in Germany. However, Germany presents a unique opportunity for reeducation for several reasons….”
“Don’t Let the Sun Step Over You“, the collected stories by Eva Tulene Watt assisted by Keith Basso made me write my mother and say, “Tell me a story”…and she did. She did, and it was good! If you’ve read the work, you’ll know why I add emphasis just so in the previous sentence. And why I wanted to hear from my mother about our people, our cousins, our family, about the past that touches the present and the future. The stories she was told or the things she observed.
Re-reading “Don’t Let the Sun Step Over You” made me want to hear songs. Made me want to hear songs I’d never heard before in this life and songs I already knew. One of them was “I’ve Been Around”, a popular Apache song that somehow voices all those stories of the hardworking, big-hearted, fierce, gentle, humorous, resilient, pragmatic, whimsical and wise Apache. “They’re always walking, walking, going around and doing things. They worked hard!”
I hear my ggrandmother’s voice again, and the stories she told and tried to tell us even when we weren’t listening, only halfway or transfixed cause they seemed light, even funny, but were deep. Stories when she was cooking or cleaning or working or chasing us (me!) with a switch when I had done something she directly told me not to do but I did it anyway because I was stubborn and/or curious.
Stories tell you why you should do things or why not to do other things. They give you purpose. They give you hope. They help you remember why you’re here now, right this very minute and not just what our ancestors endured. Stories help explain why they are important, to be kept, and remembered so our children understand and know. Some stories are shared with non-family, not-of our People, but others are special. Knowing them helps you understand why we defend them and how when someone copies you, culturally appropriates, or takes and changes your stories into their fantasies, these critically important parts of your culture and identity, it is beyond offensive but also really hurtful. Painful. That they do not care, that they make excuses, rationalize or say its just “fantasy” or “honoring” you is even worse. It’s terrible for native identities and cultures. Read the rest of this entry »
We’re excited to announce that we will again we’ll be giving a workshop at this year’s, “Tage des indigenen Films” (Day of Indigenous Films) in Rostock, Germany in cooperation with elements e.V. The event lasts from 16-20 November. Our workshop will be on Tuesday the 17th.
Films we will specifically review are Disney’s “Pocahantas” (and other misrepresentations), Adam Sandler’s “Ridiculous Six”, a German film company’s “The White Comanche” (2014) and Eli Roth’s “The Green Inferno”, which was recently internationally released. Particular discussion will be for the upcoming European release of a new “Winnetou” film, characters created by Karl May, and which continues the practice of cultural appropriation and misrepresentation of Native Americans.
From the elements e.V. website:
“At the film festival will be shown at least six programs: feature films, short films, documentaries and films for young people which address the lives of indigenous and primarily told from the perspective of the indigenous.
In addition, we organize three thematic workshops:
(1) Representations of Indigenous in film. The workshop is organized by indigenous people themselves and carried out. Speaker is D.S. Red Haircrow, author with indigenous background (Chiricahua Apache / Cherokee), and moderation by Carmen Kwasny of the Native American Association of Germany eV (NAAoG eV).
(2) Protected areas: A Space for Indigenous Peoples? The workshop will be conducted in collaboration with Survival International. Speaker is Lea-Kristin Martin of SI Berlin.
(3) The dances of Farotos and palm weaving. The workshop will organize in cooperation with the group Canoafolk from Colombia/Germany.
The film program list and further information about the workshops and the exhibition will be published by the end of October. The on-site photography exhibition will remain through December.
For details about the days of the indigenous film in 2015, please visit:
http://indigen.elements-ev.org/.
On Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/indigenerfilm/.
Native American Association of Germany (NAAoG) website:
http://www.naaog.de/.
On Facebook:
Flying With Red Haircrow 