Free Screening of Ghost Riders

The Bigfoot Memorial Ride, an annual 300-mile journey on horseback, helps the Lakota Nation "wipe the tears" shed for the massacre of Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee in 1896, and for more recent hardships. Participants convey the ride's spirit of sacrifice and remembrance, and the Lakota people's determination to build a better future. Guests for the night include the filmmaker. Special guest Producer and Director V. Blackhawk Aamodt will speak after the screening.

Bringing the Circle Together: A Native American Film Series

Bringing the Circle Together: A Native American Film Series is a FREE monthly film series located in downtown Los Angeles at the National Center for Preservation of Democracy. Directly across from our host sponsor, the Japanese American National Museum. The film series was established to provide quality documentaries by and about Indigenous cultures of the Americas, and bring together a central gathering place where discussion and awareness of issues can be shared with the Native community and its supporters.

The film series is held at the National Center for Preservation of Democracy located at 111 North Central Avenue, between 1st Street and Central Avenue, in downtown Los Angeles. The NCPD can be reached via train, bus, or parking in the area. Screenings will begin at 7pm, and it is advisable to arrive at least 15-20 minutes prior for seating. Each film will include a raffle at the end of the screening. (pdf for directions). Doors open at 6:30pm.

The film series is hosted by Lorin Morgan-Richards and is generously sponsored by the following organizations:

The Japanese American National Museum
Department of Cultural Affairs
American Indian Community Council
InterTribal Entertainment
Hecho de Mano
Nahui Ohlin

For more information about the film series please visit www.myspace.com/nafilmseries
or by email at nafilmseries@aol.com

Free Screening of Lost Nation: The Ioway

In the twilight of Native American dominion, two Ioway leaders travel to Washington, D. C. in 1824 to meet with Superintendent of Indian Affairs, William Clark. Both sign a treaty ceding a large portion of tribal land for settlement. White Cloud sees cooperation as the only way for his people to survive, while Great Walker regrets the loss of land where his ancestors are buried. More territory is lost, and the Ioway people are divided, with some regarding one leader as a traitor, and the other as a patriot. After the tribe is removed, the 36 million acres they once called home is named 'Iowa'. Then, they are forgotten. 'Lost Nation: The Ioway' tells the dramatic true tale of two leaders' struggle to save their people from inevitable American conquest, and the Ioway's current fight to reclaim and maintain their unique history and culture. Special guest TBA.

Bringing the Circle Together: A Native American Film Series

Bringing the Circle Together: A Native American Film Series is a FREE monthly film series located in downtown Los Angeles at the National Center for Preservation of Democracy. Directly across from our host sponsor, the Japanese American National Museum. The film series was established to provide quality documentaries by and about Indigenous cultures of the Americas, and bring together a central gathering place where discussion and awareness of issues can be shared with the Native community and its supporters.

The film series is held at the National Center for Preservation of Democracy located at 111 North Central Avenue, between 1st Street and Central Avenue, in downtown Los Angeles. The NCPD can be reached via train, bus, or parking in the area. Screenings will begin at 7pm, and it is advisable to arrive at least 15-20 minutes prior for seating. Each film will include a raffle at the end of the screening. (pdf for directions). Doors open at 6:30pm.

The film series is hosted by Lorin Morgan-Richards and is generously sponsored by the following organizations:

The Japanese American National Museum
Department of Cultural Affairs
American Indian Community Council
InterTribal Entertainment
Hecho de Mano
Nahui Ohlin

For more information about the film series please visit www.myspace.com/nafilmseries
or by email at nafilmseries@aol.com

A free screening of Juchitan Queer Paradise, with a special short film entitled Two-Spirit People in the Modern World

In collaboration with Bringing The Circle Together, the Red Circle Project at AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) will be hosting a free night of documentary films: 'Two-Spirit People in the Modern World', a short film by Mike Garrido and Tarek Tohme and 'Juchitan Queer Paradise' by Patricio Henriquez. This important event will take place on Thursday, March 18, 2010 with a reception and screening at 7pm. Please visit www.apla.org/redcircleproject to RSVP for the event. Please contact me with any questions at 213-201-1311 or enaswood@apla.org

About the feature film 'Juchitan Queer Paradise': Juchitan is a Zapotec village in Mexico near the Guatemalan border. Here homosexuality is fully accepted; gays are simply a third gender. If a boy shows a predisposition to homosexuality his family will rejoice and be thankful for receiving what is considered a blessing. In Juchitan a man who wants to be a woman only has to dress like a woman to be considered and treated as a woman by the entire community. The film profiles three gay people: a teacher, a hairdresser and a shop owner.

March 20th, 2010 marks the fourth year of honoring National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. March 20th was selected by Native communities to commemorate National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day because it marks the start of spring, a time of beginnings and change. In Native cultures, seasons define the cycle and celebration of life. This day will serve as an opportunity to increase awareness of the impact of HIV/AIDS on Native Americans and Alaska Natives (NA/AN).

Bringing the Circle Together: A Native American Film Series

Bringing the Circle Together: A Native American Film Series is a FREE monthly film series located in downtown Los Angeles at the National Center for Preservation of Democracy. Directly across from our host sponsor, the Japanese American National Museum. The film series was established to provide quality documentaries by and about Indigenous cultures of the Americas, and bring together a central gathering place where discussion and awareness of issues can be shared with the Native community and its supporters.

The film series is held at the National Center for Preservation of Democracy located at 111 North Central Avenue, between 1st Street and Central Avenue, in downtown Los Angeles. The NCPD can be reached via train, bus, or parking in the area. Screenings will begin at 7pm, and it is advisable to arrive at least 15-20 minutes prior for seating. Each film will include a raffle at the end of the screening. (pdf for directions). Doors open at 6:30pm.

The film series is hosted by Lorin Morgan-Richards and is generously sponsored by the following organizations:

The Japanese American National Museum
Department of Cultural Affairs
American Indian Community Council
InterTribal Entertainment
Hecho de Mano
Nahui Ohlin

For more information about the film series please visit www.myspace.com/nafilmseries
or by email at nafilmseries@aol.com

Free Screening of Broken Rainbow

The heartbreaking tale of the forced relocation of 12,000 Navajos from their ancestral homeland in Arizona that began in the 1970s and continues to this day. Broken Rainbow bears witness to the machinations of energy companies and their government proxies as they eagerly cast aside the peaceful Navajo to make way for oil, gas, uranium and coal exploration. In their own words, elders and outside experts discuss the rich culture and the history of the Navajo as well as their close friends and neighbors the Hopi. The film follows these Native Americans as they take their protest to Congress and join with the American Indian Movement. Narrated by Emmy-winning actor Martin Sheen. Guests to TBA.

Bringing the Circle Together: A Native American Film Series

Bringing the Circle Together: A Native American Film Series is a FREE monthly film series located in downtown Los Angeles at the National Center for Preservation of Democracy. Directly across from our host sponsor, the Japanese American National Museum. The film series was established to provide quality documentaries by and about Indigenous cultures of the Americas, and bring together a central gathering place where discussion and awareness of issues can be shared with the Native community and its supporters.

The film series is held at the National Center for Preservation of Democracy located at 111 North Central Avenue, between 1st Street and Central Avenue, in downtown Los Angeles. The NCPD can be reached via train, bus, or parking in the area. Screenings will begin at 7pm, and it is advisable to arrive at least 15-20 minutes prior for seating. Each film will include a raffle at the end of the screening. (pdf for directions). Doors open at 6:30pm.

The film series is hosted by Lorin Morgan-Richards and is generously sponsored by the following organizations:

The Japanese American National Museum
Department of Cultural Affairs
American Indian Community Council
InterTribal Entertainment
Hecho de Mano
Nahui Ohlin

For more information about the film series please visit www.myspace.com/nafilmseries
or by email at nafilmseries@aol.com

Ixoq documents the struggles of women during the armed conflict as well as their current efforts to build an inclusive society where they can participate. Mayan musical guests Princesas del Mundo Maya, will begin the night, and following the film Felipe Perez (the filmmaker) and IxchelMultimedia (producer) will speak about the film.

Sponsors for the night include Hecho de Mano Mayan Culture, Japanese American National Museum, Bird man Pet Shop, Department of Cultural Affairs.

Background, Guatemala, a country where wealth has historically been held in the hands of a small number of families, has been governed by one set of descendents of the Spaniards one after another. Yet the majority Mayan population, in different eras and under varying conditions, has risen up to change this situation of slavery and poverty. The Mayans survived the first holocaust of our history. But in the late 1970s, when Guatemala’s armed opposition took root in Mayan territory, an extermination policy was unleashed. Referred to as the second holocaust, it had atrocities that reached alarming levels towards the end of the last century, as the country’s 36-year civil war drew to a close (1960-1996). Official statistics record 626 massacres, including 440 Mayan communities wiped off the map, the death of more than 200,000 persons, and the disappearance of another 450,000. 50,000 widows and 500,000 orphans were left behind, and more than one million human beings were displaced. Mayan peoples accounted for 83% of the fully identified victims.

The current situation for the Mayan peoples shows little progress. 48% of the Mayan population over the age of 15 is illiterate. 51% of the Guatemalan population is female. Illiteracy among Mayan women is 76%. On an average, Mayan women who are able to read and write have only one year of schooling. Each year 100,000 Mayan children enter the labor force, 56.4% of whom are between the age of 5 and 14.

Sponsors for the night include Hecho de Mano Mayan Culture, Japanese American National Museum, Bird man Pet Shop, Department of Cultural Affairs.