The 3-dayTrading Stories Native American Film Festival officially begins at the Chadron Public Library tonight with all activities free and open to everyone.
An informal reception at 5:30 is followed at 6:00 by a formal greeting by Chadron Public Library Foundation President Ann Sunderberg.
Trading Stories is put on by the Foundation and the Chadron Public Library.
LIbrary spokesman Alan Kissick says the film festival is intended to showcase and acknowledge the contribution of the Lakota people and culture to the history of Northwest Nebraska and to highlight contemporary Native issues.
Tonight’s focus is on Caroline Weldon, a 19th-century activist who served as an adviser to Sitting Bull prior to his death and the Wounded Knee Massacre.
. Library Director Rossella Tesch and Marguerite Vey-Miller will offer an introduction to Weldon at 6:15 that will be followed at 6:30 by the 2018 biopic Woman Walks Ahead, starring Oscar winner Jessica Chastain and based on the book of the same name.
Tomorrow has a 6:00 documentary on the life of Zitkala Sa, a Native American activist, author, and musician who died in 1938. It’s followed at 6:30 by an hour-long talk on Zitkala Sa by historian Nancy Gillis.
Wrapping up tomorrow at 7:30 will be musician Dan Holtz with a program titled Heroism on the Plains: Story Songs of Courage and Determination From Improbable People and Places.
Alan Kissick says aside from the film festival, tomorrow will also be Amnesty Day at the Chadron Public Library.
Saturday’s schedule for the Trading Stories Film Festival has Cartoons and Crafts at 10:30 and Indian Tacos at 11:30, and musician Michael Murphy at 2:30. Murphy will play original songs on the Native American flute, then discuss the flute and its music before leading a session for children on making a flute.
Is there a video available for us shut-ins to view?