Daily Existence: Memories, Experiences, and Stories of Indigenous Peoples
Curated by Akira Iahtail and Masa’n AKA Selene Galindo
Watch the program online from August 25 to September 4 (extended to September 11!!)
Join the curators and some of the filmmakers for a live conversation on Thursday, Sept 1 at 12 noon PT on
VLAFF’s Facebook Live.
The Daily Existence: Memories, Experiences, and Stories of Indigenous Peoples was curated to showcase the wide range of stories and different daily lives of numerous peoples and pueblos that we call Indigenous from all over Turtle Island and Abya Yala. Each story varies, just as each one is important, and shows us perspectives of the billions of ways of existence that we call being Indigenous.
To exist as Indigenous peoples is an active resistance against colonization. Today, we are free to celebrate, to practice traditions, and be ourselves. Although Indigenous people vary across the world, we have something that ties us together, our daily activities. We create memories, experiences, and stories like any other person. This program aims to show the various, beautiful ways that we exist as Indigenous people. We are people, part of family and community; we celebrate and attend ceremonies; we have traditions and different languages throughout our territories. Even though we all are called Indigenous, these short films demonstrate the different stories and ways of existence in this world.
We invite you to take part in these different and complex stories, experiences, voices, points of views, expressions and emotions. Join us in our screenings and dialogues!
We acknowledge that the Festival takes place on unceded and unsurrendered Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh territories. Our work is done with gratitude and humility, acknowledging that we celebrate the art of film on stolen land. – Akira Iahtail and Masa’n Galindo
The Wait (La Espera)
Director: Celina Yunuen Manuel
P’urhépecha community/Mexico, 2022
P’urhépecha and Spanish with English subtitles
12 min
Yazmín and Zenaida, daughter-in-law and mother-in-law, live in a P’urhépecha community, awaiting the arrival of their husbands; time that will reveal infinite possibilities.
We are not speaking the same language
(Nous ne parlons pas la même langue)
Director: Danika St-Laurent
Muskowekwan First Nation/Canada, 2022
English | 8 min
Thinking back on her only phone call with her maternal grandmother, Danika explains her connection to her an Ojibwe-Cree (Saulteaux) identity (and her grandmother) through beadwork.
SŪKŪJULA TEI
(Stories of My Mother)
Director: David Hernández Palmar
Wayuu Iipuana/Colombia/Venezuela, 2022
Wayuu with English subtitles | 7 min
During a visit to her sister Amaliata, Rosa, a wise Wayuu woman, teaches her grandchildren the importance of reciprocity within their culture.
Through Darkness I See You
Director: Jesika Kula
Métis Nation/Canada, 2022
English | 10 min
Torn from her family at the age of four, Eugenea, a Métis teen living in foster care, takes matters into her own hands, to find her stolen family.
Ngen
Director: Jaime Bernardo Diaz Diaz
Mapuche/Chile, 2022
Mapuche and Spanish with English subtitles
23 min
Ngen is a documentary that, through a contemplative and dreamlike journey, shows us the world of Rosa, a Mapuche machi from the town of Fin Fin Boroa, Araucanía Region.
Joko & Putra
Director: Jeissy Trompiz
Indonesia, 2022
Indonesian with English subtitles | 16 min
In a small fishing village of Indonesia, Joko (47), a veteran fisherman, is struggling to catch fish. The contamination caused by industrial activities and plastic pollution in the coastal area have contributed to reducing the fish population and have made the fishermen’s job very difficult.