Arlene Bowman: Film Screenings – Navajo Talking Picture and the Graffiti

Navajo Talking Picture [1986] 40 min

Navajo Talking Picture is a film about the making of a film. An assimilated Native American filmmaker attempts to rediscover her own cultural heritage by filming the traditional life of her shimasani (grandmother).  Although she is Dine (Navajo), the filmmaker remains a stranger on her reservation, separated from the Navajo people by her inability to speak their language. She cannot resolve the conflict about camera taboos and miscommunication.  As the story unfolds, the granddaughter wants to learn the Navajo language, and she gains a greater understanding of the rift that forms when people are separated by geographical/cultural differences.

The Graffiti [2008] 30min

Although Anishinabe First Nations woman Jean Biah Lee is not successful in stopping the racism of two white, redneck males, expressed in their graffiti scribbled around Vancouver, she rebounds from injustice through writing about it.

Bowman will be present to discuss her films.

Arlene Bowman is a Dine (Navajo) from Phoenix, Arizona. She completed her master?s degree in film at the University of California (LA). An independent producer concentrating on Native themes, Arlene has produced, directed, and edited the award-winning Navajo Talking Picture (1986) and co-produced and co-directed Drugs in the 90s: Coward Hunter.  As media curator and instructor, Bowman programmed  The Native American Film and Video Festival (1989, UCLA Film and Television Archive) and Native Images Festival (1990, LA) and was a participant in Columbia Pictures Producers? Program (1987-88) under David Putnam.

More info: www.visualeye.wordpress.com

Co-sponsored with the Aboriginal Media Lab, with assistance from Cineworks.