Tak’ áyn waas Film Festival

Storytelling has always been a part of the history of people. For many, the oral history tradition continues to paint pictures and scenes in the minds of the listeners. In the early 1900′s, the technology of film begin to become a popular medium to tell stories. Over the years, Native Americans have been a popular subject of films and stories. At first marginalized and inaccurately depicted  in film, they slowly have began to tell their own stories. We celebrate the tradition of storytelling and focus this year on films that included Nez Perce actors, land, directors, and stories.

Wednesday July 6^th

6:00 pm             Nez Perce Legends
The Nez Perce Leep’wey Arts Council presents a play on Nez Perce legends by the Nez Perce Tribe’s Language Program and Students For Success, Wip Wip After School Program and Lapwai High School, with art work from Lapwai Elementary Art Classes, Art Teacher Linda Boyer, Renown Native American Artist George Flett, with assistance from Lewiston Indian Education’s Dawn Leighton and funding by a Idaho Commission on the Arts Grant. Filmed during the Lewiston production.

6:30 pm “Break Heart Pass”
A western written by Alistair MacLean and directed by Tom Gries. A train with medical supplies and a small US Army unit is heading through Rocky mountains towards plagued Fort Humboldt. Posing as a fugitive from justice, frontier undercover agent John Deakin (Charles Bronson) boards a train to go after a ruthless gang of outlaws. Ingredients essential to the action include an anti-military conspiracy involving gunrunners and Indians, a phony epidemic, and a down-and-dirty train-top fight between Deakin and Carlos (boxer-turned-actor Archie Moore). Break Heart Pass was filmed on the Nez Perce Reservation (1975) and utilized local Nez Perce for scenes.

Thursday July 7^th

6:00 pm             “Doing It?
In this abstinence education documentary, three Nez Perce high school students who are influenced by the images and messages they see on T.V. want to find out if everyone is “Doing It?”  They go around town and the reservation asking questions of the people they encounter. The documentary was filmed in Lapwai, ID in March, 2005. Writer/Director, Kimberly Norris-Guerrero;  Editor, Antonio Smith; Produced by Nez Perce Tribe Students for Success Program. (2005; 30 min.)

6:30 pm “Northwest Passage”

Northwest Passage is a 1940 film starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, and others. It is based on a novel by Kenneth Roberts titled Northwest Passage (1937). It is set in the mid 18th century during the French and Indian War. It gives an account of an attack by Rogers’ Rangers on a settlement of the Abenakis tribe at St. Francis. The purpose of the raid is to avenge the many attacks on British settlers and deter further attacks. The film is a truncated version of the original story, and only at the end do we find that Rogers and his men are about to go on a search for the Northwest Passage. The movie was filmed in central Idaho, near Payette Lake and the city of McCall.