The sixth annual Native Crossroads Film Festival will continue its tradition of promoting American Indian culture through film.
The theme surrounding this year's festival is “Rhythms.” It will feature documentaries, music videos, films and more that emphasize Native American impact on entertainment.
Joshua Nelson, director of film and media studies at OU and associate professor of English, spoke on the festival and its continuing relevance.
“The idea is that we want to bring American Indian and international indigenous films to OU, especially because a lot of these films are really difficult to see anywhere outside of a film festival circuit. The theme this year is around music. A lot of the films we have on the circuit this year seem to emphasize music in different ways,” Nelson said.
The festival will also feature a preview for an upcoming PBS series on Native America, hosted by OU alumna Julianna Brannum.
“Comanche filmmaker Julianna Brannum has made documentaries that we’ve shown at Native Crossroads in the past,” Nelson said. “She is an executive producer on one of the episodes of Native America. This particular episode is about contemporary Comanche folks. Most of the other episodes are far more historical, and they really wanted to remind everyone that American Indians are alive and well and with us in the world.”
Native Crossroads will take the theme of “Rhythms” to heart. In addition to showcasing live music at the festival, Emmy Award-winning musician Jerod Tate will also be featured.
“We’re going to try and keep people very engaged," Nelson said. "One of the really standout events is around the film called “A Day in Santa Fe.” It’s a silent film from 1931, and we’ll be doing a live scoring of the film. It’s certainly not the type of thing you get to see every day. It’s going to be really powerful."
Not only does this festival give the opportunity for people to engage in the excitement surrounding the movies, but it also has the potential to inspire interest in American Indian culture.
“What I’m hoping will come out of this festival is a renewed interest in making films and expressing the cultural side of Indian life in this really engaging form,” Nelson said.
The festival runs April 5 through 7 at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History. Scheduling information can be found here. It is free and open to the public.
