IN TOMORROW WE BELIEVE – this is the motto of the seventh NORTH AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL, which will take place from 18 to 21 January 2016 in Stuttgart/Germany. At the TREFFPUNKT Rotebühlplatz, Volkshochschule (vhs), the festival will showcase films made by Native Americans and Inuits as film directors, actors and playwrights, in which they portray their culture and their way of life. The powerful, humorous and fascinating films put a spotlight on both the past and the present.

IN TOMORROW WE BELIEVE – the aim is to pursue the exemplary ideas developed by indigenous people in their way of life, and their unique understanding of nature, people and the way things interact. Indigenous people are the memory of mankind. Their ideas could help us find solutions to make our shared world a better place to live in. As always, we are expecting some amazing guests

Prof. Dr. Kerstin Knopf

Why do we watch films? Films paint worlds that we do not know; films offer insights into thoughts and souls of people we do not notice; films open access to cultures of which we know little. Films may shock and affect us, make us sad or happy – above all, they shape our worldviews.

In our country, which is still so much marked by romantic enthusiasm about ‘Indians’ à la Karl May, where ‘Indians’ are reduced to carnival costumes and playground figures and where stereotypical ‘Indians’ people our children’s books, documentary and feature films from North America can correct these distorted or even false images of Indigenous people. We have to watch such films that show us history and the present, knowledge and languages, fates and problems, happiness and humor of the various Indigenous nations from Indigenous perspectives. This is exactly what the Indianer Inuit Film Festival in Stuttgart offers. THANK YOU!!

Prof. Dr. Kerstin Knopf, University of Bremen

Caroline Link

Oscar-Winning Director one of Germany’s top talents, skilled at captivating audiences with powerful images and gripping stories

Cinema has always been for me a view from a window into another world. In my films, I have visited the world of the deaf in Germany or described the fight for survival of a German-Jewish family in 1940 in Kenia.

The INDIANER INUIT: DAS NORDAMERIKA FILM FESTIVAL offers its spectators an authentic insight into the lives, concerns and fantasies of North American natives, who have themselves got behind the camera to tell us all about their lives. What could be more exciting than a journey into the world of these indigenous filmmakers. Their films do not tell stereotypical stories about Indians, but about encounters with people who carry an immense cultural treasure in them that they are prepared to share with us!

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Klooss / University of Trier

The Significance of Indigenous Knowledge

When on 7 September 2014 the wrack of John Franklin’s “HMS Erebus“ was discovered in Victoria Strait west of King William Island, this meant the end of a 170 years’ search for the ill fated English explorer and his crew in the Canadian Arctic. “Erebus“ was not only discovered with the help of a remote controlled small submarine but also with the help of knowledge conveyed in 19th century Inuit oral testimony that had previously been largely ignored. In the same vein, indigenous knowledge was also instrumental in the exploration and appropriation of North America.

A case in point is for example the Lewis and Clark Expedition through the continental divide to the Pacific (1804-6) whose success rested largely on the support by Native Americans. And the Canadian fur trade relied on the skills of the Métis who served as buffalo hunters, carriers, middlemen and interpreters. Yet, the significance of indigenous knowledge has hardly been acknowledged in official discourse. On the contrary, the contact of different cultural systems has resulted in the oppression and discrimination of North America’s Native peoples.

Nowadays accounts of the past are considerably revised and cherished. This is not least due to the impact of Native scholarship which employs holistic worldviews and makes deliberate use of alternative source materials (e.g. oral stories). Such a development can also be read as an expression of a century-long resilience against suppression, whereby the perpetuation of cultural traditions has played a major role. The spectacular discovery of the “Erebus“ demonstrates how fruitful the interplay of indigenous knowledge and modern technology can be. However, this requires a non-biased, decolonized approach towards the other which accepts the strange in its strangeness so that a reflected intercultural understanding can be generated. INDIANER INUIT: DAS NORDAMERIKA FILMFESTIVAL contributes significantly to such an objective.

Prof. em. Dr. Wolfgang Klooss is Director of the interdisciplinary Centre for Canadian Studies at Trier University. He has published widely on the Canadian Métis. In 2015 he received the prestigious Governor General’s International Award for Canadian Studies.
https://www.uni-trier.de/index.php?id=9657

Prof. Dr. Hartmut Lutz

Sumus, ergo sum©: Re-Indigenizing Europe

Orally transmitted knowledge and traditionally practiced values of Indigenous cultures of North America teach humans respect for all forms of life and an ethics of responsibility vis-à-vis the entire ecosystem, based on an indispensable connectedness to specific regions and places, to which human cultures are tied just as intricately as their “relations” in the fauna, flora and mineral world of the habitat they all share. The infinitely complex systems of Indigenous knowledge are gained empirically, and they are conveyed orally in stories and cultural practices over many generations. Such forms and practices of knowledge are generally missing in Europe, where enforced migrations and wars have again and again disrupted, or destroyed forever, most webs of relational knowledge and the environmental responsibilities they entail.

To Europeans in the process of overcoming the restrictions of feudal dependence, the pioneering solipsism of the enlightenment axiom “cogito, ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am) seemed to promise a radical liberation, an attainment of individual autonomy vis-a-vis an increasingly alienated nature, and a freedom from imposed social responsibilities; i.e. an unimpeded striving for individual self-realization (which seems to perversely culminate in today’s propagation of consumerism as the ultimate form of self-fulfilment: consumo, ergo sum).

Indigenous traditional knowledge keepers, artists and scholars have long given warnings that modernism’s individualism is not compatible with sustainability, and that a much more complex understanding is needed of our position within time and the entire ecosystem. If the West were to leave its presently linear path towards its own demise, a much more radical practice of implementing such an understanding would be needed in order to try and re-establish the relational web which allows for and fosters all survival. While the Lakota people address this comprehensive relationality in their phrase “Metakuye asin” (All my relations), a Western adaptation might address and begin to understand such an understanding as a “sumus, ergo sum©” (we are, therefore I am).

This would imply nothing less than an axiomatic “re-indigenization” of Europe, aided by the traditional empiricism and epistemology of Indigenous knowledge keepers and artists from North America. It has nothing to do with a return to the stone age, nor with any esoteric Indianthusiasm, nor with a worship of Indians and Inuit as ecological gurus. The IndianInuit Film Festival offers to all of us a bridge to approach Indigenous knowledge more.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

by Acosia Red Elk, SIHASIN and Jones Benally family and Canadian Film actress Sarah Podemski

Submit Your Film

Submission of films for the Film Festival 2027 is now open!
Deadline: August 31, 2026

The following films can be submitted to the festival (no form necessary):

• feature films
• live short subjects
• documentary films (long and short)
• music videos
• animated films

Focus on Native Americans and Inuit

INDIANER INUIT: DAS NORDAMERIKA FILMESTIVAL took place from January 23 – 26 under the motto “No More Silence”. The only film festival of its kind in Europe, a total of 45 films were presented, featuring and about Native Americans, and far from every Western and Hollywood cliché.  The event provided both an extensive insight into today’s Native American filmmakers and also into the current situation of North America’s indigenous peoples. Both the downside and the determination to defend their own culture and sovereignty were equally reflected in the films.

For the first time since the festival was founded in 2004, prizes were awarded in the categories: children’s film, feature film, documentary and music video. SWR, the Southwest German Broadcasting Corporation, reported about the awards in its ‘Landesschau’ broadcast. The children in grade 4D from the Reisachschule acted as the jury for the UNICEF children’s film prize. They awarded the prize to the film “The Inuit School” by the German filmmaker, Ilka Franzmann, and they were of course also present at the prize award ceremony. The class representatives, together with US American actress Tonantzin Carmelo who, as UNICEF Representative, had traveled to Stuttgart, presented Ilka Franzmann with one of the coveted sculptures, a certificate, and prize money amounting to 500 Euros.

Gunter Lange, the curator of the festival,  emphasized in his opening speech, and in the presence of the US General Consul, Kevin Milas, and the Canadian Consul, Prof. Dr. Reith, that this year’s motto “No More Silence” not only referred to the medium of film but also to the “Idle No More” political movement. Founded by four First Nation women, the movement, which formed in fall 2012 in Canada, was sparked by two legal initiatives of the Canadian government that would not only seriously encroach on the right of indigenous people but also considerably undermine the environment. “Idle No More” was, however, also a reaction to the disastrous conditions in the reservations that are characterized by sometimes catastrophic living conditions, the lack of drinking water and infrastructure, and social problems such as poverty, alcoholism or above-average rates of suicide. The Attawapiskat reservation in North Ontario is a typical example. Its desolate situation hit the headlines in 2012. The INDIANER INUIT Film Festival showed a short documentation about their fight for self-determination two years ago.

This year, two documentaries on this issue were shown within the retrospective of Alanis Obomsawin’s work.  The 81- year old Abenaki director from Montreal was the guest of honor at the festival and traveled personally to Stuttgart to receive the prize for her life achievement and present her film-making from over five decades. Obomsawin is a pioneer of indigenous film in North America who, particularly at the beginning of her career, had to stand up for herself as a woman and an indigenous person against all opposition. Even when she directed her first film “Christmas at Moose Factory” back in 1971, it dealt with the topics around which all her films have since centered: history, education and a future for young people. Her latest film “Hi Ho Mistahey“ from last year honors the Attawapiskat First Nation, Shannen Koostachin, who is actively involved in campaigning for equal education opportunities, as even today the level of education in Aboriginal schools lags far behind the Canadian average. First Nation schools receive considerably less financial assistance than state schools. There is no money for libraries, computers or language courses, and not even for heating in classrooms. According to Obomsawin, the official writing of history remains silent about the consequences of colonialism. She therefore views her award at the Stuttgart Film Festival not only as personal recognition of her works but mainly as an honor towards Indigenous people in her films. Her motto is: “We can’t wait for the government; we have to take action ourselves.”

The festival program ranged from documentaries, such as “Maria Tallchief” (Osage) about the recently deceased first US prima ballerina of the same name (Director: Sandra Sunrising Osawa, USA 2010), the mystery thriller “Imprint” (Director: Michael Lynn, USA 2007) through to the comedy “Mohawk Midnight Runners” (Director: Zoe Leigh Hopkins, Canada 2013). In addition, there were also music videos, a school film program in cooperation with UNICEF, experimental and funny short films.

Nadine Zacharias received the award for the best documentary “Into America – The Ancestor’s Land” (Germany 2012). In the film, she accompanies the Navajo Angelo Baca and his grandmother on a journey into the land of their ancestors. Whereas the young academic commutes between the indigenous and the “white” world, his grandmother refuses to speak English. A sensitive, unpretentious road movie from Seattle to the Navajo reservation. The trip takes them right across the country and resembles a journey through American history, showing the marks and scars that “white” settlement in indigenous America has left behind, as well as revealing the diversity of indigenous cultures.

The family is at the center of the drama “Shouting Secrets“(USA 2011), directed by the Swiss filmmaker Korinna Sehringer, which has already won several awards, and has again received a prize for the best feature film in Stuttgart. The film deals not only with every day Native American life but also focuses on universal issues. The fortieth wedding anniversary of Cal and June is meant to unite the family with a celebration at the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Arizona, even though the relationships have long been shattered by alienation, mistrust, anger and fear. Their son, who dealt with the break ups in his family history in a successful novel, returns for the celebrations to the reservation for the first time after nine years, but his mother suffers from a stroke before his arrival. Instead of gathering around a dinner table, the family now gathers around a hospital bed. Old conflicts come to the surface, but the mother’s death puts an end to them.

Gunter Lange, Translated by Lorraine Ewen

Prizes and awards:

• “Life Achievement Award”: Alanis Obomsawin, Director from Montreal
• Best feature film: “Shouting Secrets”, Director: Korinna Sehringer, CH/USA 2011
• Best documentary: “Into America”, Director: Nadine Zacharias, Germany 2012
• Best children’s film (UNICEF Prize): “The Inuit School”, Director: Ilka Franzmann, Germany 2002
• Best music video: “Good Boy”, Director: Wab Kinew & Winnipeg North End Art Youth Centre, Canada 2012

Gunter Lange, Translated by Lorraine Ewen

Votes to the festival:

My dear friends, thank you so so much for a wonderful visit. … Holy cow that was fun. …. Congratulations to a wonderful opening and first night!!! Danke! (Richard Van Camp, Author)

I wish to thank and applaud you for such a success of BridgeWalkers screening in Stuttgart.  What a blessing to have you both supporting this important film as it goes out to the world.

! Heart to Heart (Kara Rhodes, Producer and Director, LA)

U.S. Consulate General Frankfurt wrote: „Congratulations!! We enjoyed our time with you tremendously and wish you all the best! Way to go, Gunter Lange and team!!“

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HARD WORK, YOUR ENTHUSIASM, AND DEDICATION TO FRIENDSHIP AND MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING!

Happy that the German audiences appreciated Shouting secrets Movie as well. We won Best Feature.  Thank you Gunter Lange and your wonderful team for all your hard work and passion creating this festival. We had a wonderful time! – with Tonantzin Carmelo and Tyler Christopher at VHS Stuttgart. It was an amazing screening! So much laughter, tears and emotions! And so much great feedback from a wonderful audience (Korinna Sehringer, Producer and Director, LA)

It has been an incredible time! Trace Wei, Jenifer Makwa Brousseau and Patrick Wakefield – we are all honoured, grateful and thankful for the opportunity to not only share our music, but to make friends for life! Thank you Gunter! (Renae Morriseau, M’GIRL)

There should have been something for everybody interested in Native American and First Nations cultures at the adult education center located at the Rotebühlplatz in Stuttgart: Between Tradition and Multimedia Life was the topic of this year’s Nordamerika Film Festival. More than 50 films, all recent releases, were projected onto the screen at Robert-Bosch hall in Stuttgart from January 19th to the 22nd, 2012. No less than twelve indigenous directors, producers, screenwriters, musicians, and actors were invited and traveled across the Atlantic to talk to the audiences about issues that move and interest First Nations and Native American people today in the films they make.

The interactions of a highly interested and passionate public with professional and engaged film makers, actors, musicians and directors from abroad – all this as part of an exceptional film program and associated events – created an intriguing alchemy for a first class international film event that is unique in Europe.

Festival visitors arrived from Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, and as far away as Bulgaria. Even the cold and rainy weather could not stop them from coming to the film festival every day, which takes place for the fourth time this year. As always, the Nordamerika Film Festival is possible only because of the promotion and support of the City of Stuttgart, the Media and Film Company Baden-Wurttemberg (MFG), as well as the German-American Center (DAZ), as well as the very considerable support of several private sponsors. Together with dedicated partners like the VHS Stuttgart (an adult education facility), the Linden Museum, the German-American Center (DAZ), the Konrad-Adenauer foundation, UNICEF Stuttgart, as well as the University of Konstanz, the artistic director Gunter Lange (also from Lake Constance) has worked for two years to plan and organize this unique festival. The idea for this festival here in Stuttgart came about through Gunter’s cooperation with the American Indian film Institute & Festival (AIFI/AIFF) San Francisco where he, as the first European, had the honor to participate in the AIFI Festival from 1999 to 2001. Since 1975, this most renowned festival for indigenous films in North America shows the best in current Native American/First Nations film productions. With that, of course, indigenous media workers in North America have not only made an enormous contribution to the debunking of the stereotypical Hollywood Injun, but they have enriched the media landscape with fresh and high quality film productions.

Hollywood Indians, Reel Injun, or Blue in the Face are but a few examples of recent high-quality films that deal with the (still prevalent) dehumanizing effects the images of the so-called “Hollywood Indian” create. Or, did you know that the headband, as seen in many movies, is not originally part of an indigenous traditional dress code? Or, did you know that the headband – so often worn by those playing “Indians” in Hollywood movies – was basically invented (by Hollywood) to keep the wigs (of the usually Non-Indian actors) in place? In that context, Lynn Salt, director of A Good Day to Die, a film portrait about AIM and Dennis Banks, informed the interested audience in Stuttgart that Native Americans, by the way, know exactly how they are expected to conduct themselves in order to be perceived as indigenous at all This was one reason why during the siege at Wounded Knee, she explained, many Native American activists consciously dressed “Indian” because knew exactly what whites imagined “real Indians” to look like. At the time, this was a helpful tool to get the media’s badly needed attention.

In a lecture, Angela Webb, director of the documentary film Hearing Radmilla, also spoke to the audience about stereotyping. Here she quite consciously dealt with the prejudices Germans have towards Americans, Caucasian Americans, and particularly towards so-called “Indians.” Native Americans, by the way, have no prejudices towards Germans at all, she told the audience tongue in cheek. Or do they? She asked: “Do Germans constantly drink strong beer, eat delicious cakes sauerkraut, and run around in leather shorts?”

The well-known Canadian singer and actor Tom Jackson, (North of 60), and his wife Alison traveled all the way from Calgary to the festival. He talked about history of the film Medicine River, in which he acted together with Graham Greene. The audience was really happy when, after the screening, Tom Jackson sang some of the wonderful songs from his new CD I Will Bring You Near. He accompanied himself on the guitar. At the moment he writes new songs for a musical that is going to be performed in London; however, he told the audience, he would certainly enjoy taking the musical to Germany afterwards.

One of the most sought after personalities at the Stuttgart Festival was Dennis Banks, the well-known Ojibwa human rights activist. He traveled together with his daughter Glenda Roberts, who works on the Leech Lake reservation in Minnesota, where her father also lives. Aside from her managerial work at the casino, she is also a photographer, and assists her Dad with his organic food business. If Dennis isn’t busy following one of his many obligations, he works to develop his maple syrup and wild rice production, called Beyond Organic. He even had to defend this brand name in court, but the judge ruled in his favor. The concept of “more than organic” is permitted if nothing is added to the product. It may be that a similar concept will soon be introduced to the German market as well.

Together with the directors Lynn Salt and David Mueller, the human right activist answered a multitude of questions about the film A Good Day to Die, in which his life story as a co-founder of the AIM movement is told. The film – which, by the way, shows newly discovered historical footage from the 1970ies – explains the reasons behind the many conflicts that finally lead to the founding of AIM: the occupation of Alcatraz, the Trail of Broken Treaties, the Custer courthouse incident, and finally the siege of Wounded Knee 1973. The film is available through Journeyman-Pictures. Just like Tom Jackson, Dennis Banks also revealed his musical talent to the audience by singing a few beautiful songs. He was accompanied by the excellent Stuttgart guitarist Ulrich Wedlich, as well as a drum group (not all at the same time). When Dennis was a child, his music teacher had assured him that he had no musical talent whatsoever, but when, decades later, he listened to Dennis Banks’ music CD, the teacher had to admit that this may have been too hasty a judgment.

Angela Webb introduced her documentation Hearing Radmilla about the life of the singer and former Miss Navajo nation Radmilla Cody. Ms. Cody had already arrived from Flagstaff, Arizona, before the start of the film festival in order to give a well-received and excellent live concert at the Linden Museum. This exceptional singer whose performance revealed her broad range reaching from traditional Navajo songs to unusual interpretations of classical modern music, was accompanied by noted guitarist Ulrich Wedlich. Hearing Radmilla is a documentary that tells the story about difficulties and prejudices that can arise out of being bi-racial tribal member (who also has African-American roots) in a Navajo community, how domestic violence can lead a young woman to come into conflict with the law, and how she, her family, and her community overcome these overwhelming odds. This difficult topic hit the nerve of a captive audience. Angela Webb, the director, and Radmilla Cody, the protagonist of the film, engaged the viewers in a lively discussion around the problem of domestic violence, racism within minority populations, and how traditional Navajo values helped dissolve these conflicts. Only after the janitor complained, everybody agreed to finally vacate the premises. As a result of this exceptional documentary, Radmilla Cody and Angela Webb are already invited to take part in the well-established Native American Culture Week in Lake Constance (near the Swiss border) at the beginning of September this year.

Furthermore, the Turkish director Ece Soydam introduced her film On the Trail of Sitting Bull, which had been nominated as “Best Documentary” at the AIFF in San Francisco 2011. Her documentary was especially well received because it gave voice to an issue that has so far not been adequately represented in films about indigenous issues: a competent Native American critique of the old Bering Street migratory theory – cherished by Eurocentric cultural anthropologists everywhere. The Swedish director Nana Dalunde, who flew in from Stockholm, introduced her experimental film Apache Chronicle. It gives an insight into the life of five self-confident, autonomous and tough young Apache women living on the San Carlos reservation. These young women appear as carpet weavers, poets, skate boarders, artists and writers/directors who – despite the odds – have taken control of their lives between tradition and modernity.

The writer-director Guy Fay arrived from Paris presented his unique film Indian Rezervation Blues at the music film matinee. This film portrays indigenous musicians in Canada and the USA and gives an excellent insight into the versatile creativity of new indigenous music. The film Skydancer tells the story of the fearless men of the Mohawk tribe who at a dizzying height put together the steel girders for skyscrapers to make a living, by German director Katja Esson completed the screening of films on indigenous North America. Several hundred visitors and guests took the opportunity to take part in an intensive intercultural experience through the medium of First Nations and Native American film. We are glad to announce that this invigorating exchange of ideas – also evident through many personal conversations with the guests from the US and Canada – will continue with the Best of The American Indian Film Festival San Francisco in Stuttgart next year. We hope to see you there!

Authors: Norbert Mallik, Gunter Lange, R. Mayer, English translation: Regina Mayer
25. January 2012

taz – die tageszeitung, 7. März 2007
Oft sind sie Opfer von klischeehaften Rollenzuschreibungen im Film: Indianer und Inuit treten im Mainstreamkino vielfach als Trunkenbolde oder Underdogs auf. Das indianer inuit Film Festival in Stuttgart hingegen zeigt eigene Produktionen der Ureinwohner Nordamerikas als Regisseure, Drehbuchautoren und Schauspieler…

Accents magazine – The English Language Journal for Baden-Württemberg, May / June 2007
After three hundred years of violent dislocation, the North American Indian and Inuit populations fell from between 12-19 million to 250,000. By the middle of the 20th Century many indigenous peoples had been either written of as “savages” or romanticized as nobles. Cultural icons were reduced to the level of fancy dress for kids. Hollywood images had placed Native Americans into a nostalgic past with neither a present for future. “Most so-called indian movies are based on stereotypes and prejudice”, says Gunter Lange. “Even today, many such films are in denial of historical accuracy and ignore many injustices. This festival does away with such folly.”

Stuttgarter Zeitung, 21. März 2007
Das alte Hollywoodbild vom Indianer als blutrünstigem Wilden wird hier zwar allenfalls zornig oder ironisch zitiert, das heißt aber nicht, dass die Filme und Serienteile, von denen viele für´ s Fernsehen entstanden, ein ungeschminktes Bild der vielfältigen indianischen Gegenwart zeigen. Indianische Filmemacher stehen unter Druck: Sie sollen dass Selbstwertgefühl der oft angefeindeten Native Americans steigern, Gemeinschaftswerte wahren helfen, Vorurteile abbauen…

THE ABORIGINAL WING MAGAZINE, Winter 2007
GERMANY: Indian Film Festival – The first and, to-date only film festival of it´ s kind in Europe. The festival strives to promote understanding between various peoples through cultural dialogue…
In addition to experiencing the art of cinematography, the public is offered the opportunity to meet with indigenous filmmakers and engage them in dialogue. Another important facet of the festival lies in the encounter with youth and pedagogues. Films, discussions and personal interaction…

UNICEF Stuttgart, März/April 2007
Die Schauspielerin Tantoo Cardianal, die seit über drei Jahrzehnten erfolgreich im Filmgeschäft tätig ist und die viele aus dem Film „Der mit dem Wolf tanzt“ kennen, übernahm für das Festival die Rolle der „UNICEF-Repräsentantin“. Während der Schulvorführungen am Morgen sprach sie über die gezeigten Filme und beantwortete viele Fragen. Neben Fragen wie „wo wurde der Film gedreht?“ wie kommt es, dass sie in dem Film graue Haare hatte?“, interessierten sich die SchülerInnen von der ersten bis zur achten Klasse dafür, wie sie als Indianerin (bzw. Métis) aufgewachsen ist und warum sie Schauspielerin geworden ist…UNICEF hat das Filmfestival unterstützt, weil die Geschichte der indigenen Bevölkerung Nordamerikas deutlich macht, wie wichtig und wie schützenswert das Recht von Menschen – insbesondere von Kindern – auf eine eigene Kultur und Identität ist.

Stuttgarter Nachrichten, 21. März 2007-06-12
Die Indianer mögen Stuttgart. Federschmuck und Friedenspfeife werden die Indianer wohl nicht bei sich führen, die sich von heute an bis zum 25. März beim zweiten Nordamerika-Filmfestival im Stuttgarter Filmhaus KOKI die Klinke in die Hand geben…Um die Dekonstruktion von Klischees geht es denn auch in den meisten der rund 38 Kurz-, Spiel- und Dokumentarfilme von „Native Americans“ und Inuit, die im KOKI zu sehen sind…

NATIVE PEOPLES MAGAZINE, March / April 07
Cross the Big Water to the second North American Native Film Festival, March 21-25 in Stuttgart, Germany. Special guests will include Tantoo Cardinal, Michael Smith, Adam Beach, Gregory Coyes, Nakotah LaRance, Lila Downs and Joy Harjo. At the same time, the Linden-Museum of Stuttgart will host an exhibition of jewelry by Steve Wikviya LaRance (Hopi) and Marian Denipah (Navajo/Tewa), which continues through April 22…

Homepage des Amerikanischen Generalkonsulats in Frankfurt/Main, März 2007
Das zweite Nordamerika Filmfestival wurde am 21.3. vor vollem Haus eröffnet. Es wird vom Deutsch-Amerikanischen Institut Stuttgart mit der Unterstützung der diplomatischen Vertretung der USA in Deutschland und zahlreichen lokalen Sponsoren durchgeführt und ist das einzige seiner Art in Europa, das den Fokus auf die filmischen Talente der indianischen Ureinwohner Nordamerikas legt. In seinem Grußwort betonte Scott Rauland, der Leiter der Presse- und Kulturabteilung im US-Generalkonsulat Frankfurt, dass er hoffe, dass bei vielen der Anwesenden vielleicht das Interesse an einer USA-Reise geweckt würde, um die in den Filmen gezeigten Menschen und Regionen zu besuchen.

Homepage Native Vue, 26. Februar 2007
Indianer Inuit is a film festival that crosses cultures and crosses continents, leaving behind the one-dimensional images and prejudices and challenging the romantic notion of the “Hollywood Indian”
Europe´ s been fed for generations…

Interview: Coffee with Tantoo Cardinal, March 29, 2007 (by John Blackbird)
“Someday the dominant society is going to need us, and we` ll be ready. Right now as we speak, she pauses, and then continues as if thinking of someone, our communities are over-flowing with talented and inspirited artists. The dominant society is missing out.”

SPUREN – Schweizer Magazin für neues Bewusstsein, Nr. 82 / Winter 2006
Ein paar tausend Kilometer östlich von San Francisco findet zum zweiten Mal „indianer inuit: Das Nordamerika Filmfestival statt, das unter der Schirmherrschaft des AIFI steht. Vom 21.-25. März 2007 werden in Stuttgart einem interessierten Publikum Filme einer jungen indigenen Generation gezeigt, die aus ihrer persönlichen Perspektive den gelebten Zwiespalt zwischen Tradition und Moderne näher bringt. Das in Europa einzigartige Festival versteht sich auch als Form der Völkerverständigung und des Kulturdialogs…

BJF-Magazin (Bundesverband Jugend und Film e.V.), 1/2007
„indianer inuit: Das Nordamerika Filmfestival“ versteht sich als Forum des interkulturellen Dialogs. Ausgewählte Produktionen indigener Filmschaffender Nordamerikas werden thematisch begleitet von einer bunten Reihe kultureller Veranstaltungen

Amtsblatt Stuttgart Nr. 11, 15. März 2007
Bereits am Dienstag, 20. März, wird im Linden-Museum um 18.30 Uhr die Ausstellung „Moderne Reisende auf überlieferten Pfaden“ eröffnet. Anschließend tanzt der 16-Jährige Schauspieler und Hoop-Tanz Junior-Weltmeister, Nakotah LaRance. Der zum Volk der Hopi zählende LaRance präsentiert unter dem Motto „Den Kreis des Lebens gestalten“ sein ganzes tänzerisches Können…

Nord-Rundschau, 24. März 2007
Exotischer Besuch aus Arizona hatte sich im Solitude-Gymnasium angesagt. Der 16-Jährige Hopi-Indianer Nakotah LaRance und sein Vater Steve Wikviya LaRance, waren als Kulturbotschafter angereist, um den Schülern im Rahmen des Lehrplanthemas „Indianer“ Einblick in die Traditionen und Lebensweise ihres Stammes zu geben…Eine weitere Frage der SchülerInnen war die nach der Religion der Hopi. „Unsere Religion ist sehr eng mit der Natur verbunden“, erläuterte Steve LaRance. Ein wichtiger Inhalt dieser Religion sei es mit der Erde respektvoll umzugehen. „Wir sollten uns alle bemühen, umweltbewusst zu handeln und recyclebare Produkte zu verwenden, damit Mutter Erde noch lange erhalten bleibt…

Schwäbisches Tagblatt online, März 2007
Die meisten der so genannten „Indianerfilme“ leben vom Klischee und von Vorurteilen gegenüber den amerikanischen Ureinwohnern. Die geschichtliche Wirklichkeit mit ihren Ungerechtigkeiten wird bis heute gerne verdrängt und durch romantische Projektionen ersetzt. Das Stuttgarter Festival will damit aufräumen und zeigt Filme der jungen indigenen Filmgeneration, die den Zwiespalt zwischen Tradition und moderne vermitteln möchte…

Interkultur Stuttgart – Begegnung der Kulturen 03/07
Aus einem Interview mit der Schauspielerin Tantoo Cardinal: „Ich denke, dass wir als SchauspielerInnen den Mut aufbringen sollten, Einfluss auf Rollen und Darstellung zu nehmen, um stereotype Verhaltensmuster und fest zementierte Strukturen zu ändern. Das ist harte Arbeit und kein einfacher Weg; aber es hilft, die Wahrheit über uns als First Nations herauszufinden. Wir dürfen den indianischen Holocaust nicht mehr verschleiert lassen und können es auch nicht mehr hinnehmen, dass wir monotone und einseitige Charakterrollen spielen. Ich bin es leid, diese stereotypen Rollen von indianischen Frauen darzustellen, die einsilbig sprechen…

New Native Spirit, April 2007
Überhaupt war Gunter Lange, der für die künstlerische Leitung des Festivals verantwortlich war, sehr zufrieden mit dem Anklang, den das Festival fand, obwohl es erst zum zweiten Mal in Deutschland durchgeführt worden war.

Sonnendeck – Stuttgarter Kunstnotizen, April 2007
Betrifft die Ausstellung „Moderne Reisende auf überlieferten Pfaden – Indianische Kunst aus dem Südwesten“ im Linden-Museum:
Seit einigen Jahren geistert der Begriff „Glokalisierung“ durch die Medien. Gemeint ist damit, dass die Globalisierung nicht nur die Durchsetzung und Konsolidierung des kapitalistischen Weltsystems ist, sondern in einem sehr viel komplexeren Prozess auch lokale und regionale Reaktionen hervorruft. Man beruft sich wieder auf Traditionen und lokale Besonderheiten – gerade angesichts der globalen kulturellen „McDonaldization“…

Kameramann 3 / 2007
Das Nordamerika-Festival widmet sich in seiner zweiten Ausgabe vom 21.-25. März im Kommunalen Kino Stuttgart unter dem Motto „Indigenous Voices“ der Völkerverständigung und dem Kulturdialog. Dabei wird ein besonderer Schwerpunkt auf das indigene Filmschaffen indigener Frauen gerichtet, von denen über die Hälfte der Beiträge stammt…

Magazin für Amerikanistik, heft 4 / 4. Quartal 2006
Das „Montreal First Peoples Festival“ hat sich in Kanada als eines der wichtigsten Cineastischen Events etabliert. In Europa macht „Das Nordamerika Filmfestival von sich reden. Wer sich für indianische Filme interessiert und nicht im Juni 2007 zum Festival in die Provinz Quebec fliegen kann, bekommt im kommenden März die Chance, sich einige herausragende Produktionen in Stuttgart anzusehen.

COYOTE – Indianische Gegenwart Nr. 73, Frühjahr 2007
Gunter Lange, künstlerischer Leiter des Festivals, bedankte sich vor allem bei Mike Smith, dem Präsidenten des AIFI, ohne dessen Anregung und Zusammenarbeit das Festival nicht möglich gewesen wäre…Mit dem Filmfest ist es den Organisatoren gelungen, nicht nur die Vielfalt des indigenen Lebens und Filmschaffens überzeugend zu präsentieren, sondern vor allem dem eigenen Motto gerecht zu werden: den Indigenen eine Stimme zu geben, die gehört wird. Bleibt für die Zukunft alles Gute und vor allem eine Fortsetzung zu wünschen.

November 18 – 28, 2004 in Stuttgart (Germany) and Zurich (Switzerland)

Gunter Lange, is the artistic director of the Indianer Inuit: The North American Native Film Festival 2004 in Europe.

For the very first time in Europe the Indianer Inuit: The North American Native Film Festival 2004 will show the remarkable repertoire of Native American films to the public in Stuttgart (Germany) and Zurich (Switzerland). Supported by the UNESCO and the American Indian Film Institute & Festival in San Francisco the event is scheduled for November 18 – 28, 2004. For over 28 years filmmakers and actors who are of Native American descent have developed the American Indian film into an independent medium of expression. Todays film productions exel in originality and professional quality.

The Indianer Inuit: The North American Native Film Festival 2004 in Stuttgart and Zurich picks up on the very successful film festivals in San Francisco, California (American Indian Film Festival) and Park City, Utah, Gunter Lange for many years is associated with. As event manager he will contribute to the concept and program of the festival based on his long term experience and network of film experts. With his mediation it will be possible to show film productions that in Europe are difficult to access.

The Indianer Inuit: The North American Native Film Festival 2004 will be a forum as well to meet prominent Native American filmmakers and actors, and it intends to introduce the European public to the rather unrecognized reality of Native life and thought. High priority is given to meeting people on a personal level as the best way to supercede the far spread stereotypes of „Indians“.

Besides film programs for adults there will be special presentations for children and youth. It is also intended to initiate acontinuing dialogue between teachers, students and Native American representatives.

The film festival is the expression of a close cooperation between leading cultural institutions: The UNESCO, American Indian Film Institute & Festival, San Francisco, Stuttgart Linden-Museum, Klaus M. Tornow- American Chamber of Commerce in Germany e.V., Stuttgart House of Films, James-Byrnes Institute (Stuttgart), Zurich North America Native Museum (NONAM), Museum of Ethnology of Zurich University and Zurich Filmpodium as well as Media Arts & Cultural Event Manager Gunter Lange, who is associated with the American Indian Film Institute & Festival (AIFI/AIFF) and Tribal Touring Program (TTP) in San Francisco, CA, USA.

Commends of our Native guests referring to North American Native Film Festival in Stuttgart and Zurich

Michael Smith, President of American Indian Film Institute & Festival, San Francisco
I wish to commend you for the good work and your integrity in bringing forth the media offerings presented, and the good people participating, Indian, German, and Swiss. All of us, in our own ways, benefited from all the screenings, discussions, presentations, and kinship…

My personal best wishes and sincere thanks for your good work and kindness afforded us all.

Jennifer Podemski, actress, producer, redcloud studios, Toronto, Canada
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for allowing me to be a part of your wonderful festival. It was truly an incredible experience and I would very much like to continue our relationship and work together on the many festivals to come. I do not think that you, or anyone else understands the true importance of what you have done for the Native community.

You have opened the doors of communication and have allowed us to share our stories with the audience we would have never dreamed of reaching…I commend you on an absolutely fantastic festival, from the team to the structure, everything was seamless…

Alex Rice, actress, Kahnawake Reservation, Montreal, Canada
Congratulations on a very successful film festival program first in Stuttgart and then in Zurich. I found all of the screenings to be well attended indicating a very good publicity campaign as well as a strong local interest in the film genre. Every aspect was well organized and brilliantly executed from my arrival to the actual screenings, press, discussions, transportation, translations etc…

The diverse backgrounds of the guests selected were a perfect and complete combination representing the various departments of film and media as well as the diverse Native American profiles in existence today…so it was a comprehensive group covering all aspects of Native film and media…I would love to see this festival grow and be able to feature even more films including the works of more Native women filmmakers…

Interview with the director of the American Indian Film Institute & Festival in San Francisco and the Canadian Mohawk actress Alex Rice on the occasion of the film festival Indianer und Inuit – The North American Native Film Festival.

Zürcher Tagesanzeiger, culture section, 27.11. 2004
Documented by Florian Keller:

Michael Smith, promoter of American Indian film

I grew up in a time when portrayals of Native Americans in a positive light in the cinema and on television were few and far between. Admittedly, every so often there were Native Americans to be seen in Westerns but they mostly symbolised obstacles standing in the way of the western world’s progressive way of thinking.

And they were more often than not played by white people with black wigs and make up in their faces. In 1972, a film was made that marked a turning point in this way of thinking: it was Arthur Penn’s “Little Big Man” starring Dustin Hoffman and Chief Dan George. It was the first time that I felt that a positive picture of a Native American was being communicated and furthermore, he was played by a very humorous Indian. It was the first commercial film to make large audiences aware of how wrong the general picture was in America that depicted Indian life.

During this time the idea behind our Native American Film Festival was born, when we asked ourselves: what exactly are these images, circling above us, and how can we communicate positive images of their cultural identity to young people? At that time, it was not easy to find appropriate films; however, by 1975 we had enough material to put a programme together. That first festival was originally planned to be a one-time event, now, 29 years later, we are still going.

Right into the 1970s there were hardly any Native American film-makers. When the first young Native Americans started going to university, they studied Law or Medicine; they did not go to university to make films or to start careers in media. That has taken a long time to change. It has not, however, become any easier to finance films. This year, for example, we had a first in our programme – a film that was made on a budget of 17 000 dollars. The director said to himself: I can either buy myself a new car, or make a film.

He went for the film and we, from the American Indian Film Institute, are here to encourage this kind of person. Unfortunately, a lot of these films go unseen for many, as they are only shown at festivals. And if their makers do enjoy international success, such as Chris Eyre did, for his film “Smoke Signals”, he was then cast-set as a director for Indian topics. As if Chris Eyre did not have enough talent to direct the major films, which possibly have nothing to do with that…

In commercial cinema, the old pictures unfortunately continue to have an effect. It is frustrating when a director such as Ron Howard puts the old cliché up on the screen as he did in “The Missing”. Unfortunately it is this kind of film that provides Indian actors with good work opportunities and the chance to prove their talent. It is sad that a lot of the rubbish that is produced does actually provide for a decent income.

Think about the film “Hidalgo”, where Viggo Mortensen played a half-Indian. We included this film in our programme and noticed the following: in the official information on the film provided by Touchstone Pictures and Disney, the Indian aspect of the film was completely ignored! A well-known actor plays a character with an Indian background in a major Hollywood production and the film is sold based on the story of a White man in Saudi Arabia. That does not make sense, does it?