NATIVE CROSSROADS FILM FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHTS WARRIORS OF ALL KINDS; SCREENS SUNDANCE DOCUMENTARY ON N. SCOTT MOMADAY

Norman – The warrior spirit is celebrated in the works to be screened at the eighth annual Native Crossroads Film Festival, set for March 26-28 at the Norman Library Central, 103 W Acres St, Norman, OK 73069.

Sundance Festival and Toronto Festival films will join the lineup this year, including a documentary on N. Scott Momaday and a feature film about a zombie plague on the rez.

The festival kicks off on Thursday with The Indians for Indians Radio Show Symposium, at 1 p.m. in 118LL Bizzell Library on the Norman campus of the University of Oklahoma, followed by a reading of Arigon Starr’s play “Indian Life” in Sharp Hall, Catlett Music Center, at 7:30 p.m.

For the first time, festival film screenings on Friday and Saturday will take place at the beautiful new Norman Library Central. Plentiful onsite parking is available.

Warriors are fighters who take up the struggles of their people. They are soldiers, protectors, artists, educators and innovators who stand on the front lines of their people. The Native Crossroads Film Festival celebrates the faces of the next generation of warriors this year.

Experimental shorts begin at 1 p.m, on Friday with the documentary film “Waaki-Sanctuary,” along with experimental shorts “Lore” by Sky Hopinka and “Ga.ni.tha” by Keli Mashburn. “Waaki – Sanctuary”, by pioneering Hopi filmmaker Victor Masayesva, Jr., explores the creation stories of Hopi, Nahua and Maya and their connection to maize. Masayesva, Jr. and Mashburn will take part in a panel discussion after the screening.

“Warrior Women,” a documentary on the American Indian Movement leader Madonna Thunder Hawk and her daughter Marcy, will screen with the short “Minnie’s War Bonnet” beginning at 3:15 p.m. on Friday. Filmmakers Christina King and Yvonne Russo will be in attendance at the screening.

A new feature film by acclaimed director Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, “The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open,” will screen at 7:30 p.m. Friday evening. The drama explores two Indigenous women living very different lives who are briefly brought together by desperate circumstances.

Saturday has a full day of Native cinema. A block of shorts begins at 1 p.m. Topics include healing generational trauma, warrior women, a burning desire to become a drag queen and the urban Native experience. Filmmakers MorningStar Angeline and Razelle Benally will take questions after the films.

Jeff Barnaby's sophomore feature, “Blood Quantum,” will screen at 3:15 p.m. The film grimly depicts an apocalyptic scenario in which an isolated Mi'gmaq community discover they are the only humans immune to a zombie plague. As the citizens of surrounding cities flee to the Mi'gmaq reserve in search of refuge from the outbreak, the community must reckon with whether to let the outsiders in — and thus risk not just the extinction of their tribe but of humanity, period.

N. Scott Momaday, one of the founders of the Native American Renaissance, is the topic of Saturday’s feature documentary by Jeffrey Palmer, “Words From a Bear.” The documentary screened at the Sundance Film Festival to great acclaim. Palmer will be on hand to discuss how he celebrated Momaday’s writing and guided audiences through the historical struggles of Native communities.

Native Crossroads is a unique film festival and symposium that focuses on international Indigenous media. The event puts academics, media creators, and community and tribal organization representatives into dialogue to advance discussions in all these fields. At once entertaining, scholarly and educational, each year’s event explores particular themes of pressing importance to Native people, globally and locally. The program is made possible in part by the Norman Arts Council grant program. Through the generous support of their sponsors, all events are free and open to the public.

For more information or accommodations, contact Karl Schmidt at (405) 325-3020 or karl.schmidt@ou.edu. For a complete schedule, visit nativecrossroads.org. ###