The Native and the Refugee: Reservations, Sovereignty and Autonomy

The Native and the Refugee: Reservations, Sovereignty, and Autonomy

Presented by Malek Rasamny and Matt Peterson

We invite you to the New York premiere of videos from Matt Peterson and Malek Rasamny's documentary project The Native and the Refugee, connecting struggles taking place on Indian reservations in the United States and those in Palestinian refugee camps in the Middle East. This event will focus on the native dimension of the project, watching and discussing the current situations on indigenous territories across the United States, which remain little known or understood.
 

We Love Being Lakota

Adam Khalil, Matt Peterson, Malek Rasamny, 2015, 12 min

This video was taken during our December visit to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Home of the Oglala Lakota, “the fiercest warrior tribe on the continent”, the film takes a meditative look at Lakota identity in the face of US colonialism, and their relationship to the sacred land they have been pushed out of after two centuries of warfare and theft.

Men's Council of the People of the Way of the Longhouse

Adam Khalil, Matt Peterson, Malek Rasamny, 2015, 12 min

Taking place on the Mohawk territory of Akwesasne--on the borders of New York, Ontario and Quebec--this video juxtaposes footage of a special January gathering at their longhouse, featuring elder Paul Delaronde; archival footage of the Mohawk Warrior Society; and shots of the polluted, decaying industrialized remains surrounding their territory.

INAATE/SE/ (excerpt)

Adam and Zack Khalil, 2015, 10 min

"Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil (both Ojibwe) provide a raw take on their ancestral community within the Sault Ste. Marie area -- documenting the harmony and debauchery of the Indigenous experience today. This experimental film, now in the works, juxtaposes the voice of the romanticizing settler with contemporary Ojibwe perspectives."  -- Gloria Bell, First American Art Magazine

The screening will be followed with a discussion with the filmmakers, and John Kane, Mohawk host of WBAI's "First Voices Indigenous Radio.” More info TBA.

Matt Peterson produced a film on the Tunisian insurrection called Scenes from a Revolt Sustained, and is now working on a project about Istanbul and Kurdish autonomy. He was a member of Red Channels and the 16 Beaver Group, and is currently part of a commune in Ridgewood called Woodbine.

Malek Rasamny is a researcher, film programmer, and critic based in New York and Beirut. He was a member of Red Channels, Ground Floor Collective, and LERFE, and has organized events with the the Brecht Forum and Afikra. His writings on film have been featured in the Daily Star, the largest English language daily newspaper in the Middle East.

Adam Khalil is a filmmaker, artist, and media archivist. His practice attempts to subvert traditional forms of ethnography through humor, relation, and transgression. Adam's work has been exhibited at Goldilocks Gallery (Philadelphia), Microscope Gallery (Brooklyn), Museo ExTeresa Arte Actual (Mexico City), Carnival of eCreativity (Bombay), and Fine Art Film Festival Szolnok (Hungary). Khalil is a UnionDocs Collaborative Fellow and Gates Millennium Scholar. In 2011 he graduated from the Film and Electronic Arts program at Bard College.

John Karhiio Kane is a national commentator on Native issues. He hosts two weekly radio shows,  "Let's Talk Native...with John Kane," on ESPN Sports Radio WWKB-AM 1520 in Buffalo, New York and “First Voices Indigenous Radio” on WBAI-FM 99.5 in New York City. Kane appears frequently on TV and radio and is a columnist for “The Two Row Times.” His columns are regularly posted in “Censored News” and the Native Nations Institute’s Indigenous Governance Database at the University of Arizona. John was honored earlier this year with a Community Leader Media Award from the National Federation for Just Communities of Western New York. He is a member of the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA).

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