Film fest continues tonight, Saturday highlighting Native American culture

For Michael Smith, director of the American Indian Film Institute, a dark room with a big screen is the place where cultural barriers can be crossed.

“I think film is an important medium because it connects all people,” Smith said. 

This weekend, Maricopa residents and members of the Ak-Chin Indian Community have the opportunity to feel that connection as the institute showcases feature films and other movies from its annual film festival held last November in San Francisco. 

The showcase, hosted by the Ak-Chin Indian Community, kicked off Thursday evening with two short films and a full-length feature at the UltraStar Mult-tainment Center off State Route 347. It continues today and Saturday with both evening and afternoon viewing sessions. 

The films being shown – shorts, features, music videos and animated movies – put a spotlight on Native American culture, highlighting various issues and themes.

“Our festival is an educational opportunity I think for all people,” Smith said. 

And the opportunity for the viewing audience is unique, he explained. It’s difficult for independent filmmakers who focus on minorities like Native Americans to put their movies in front of the public. 

“People are scrambling to make the film, but there’s no advertising, there’s no promotion and there’s no distribution, so nobody sees them,” he said. 

Smith has been working to correct this problem for almost 40 years. The American Indian Film Institute hosted its 37th annual American Indian Film Festival last fall. 

A Seattle native who grew up in the midst of the civil rights movement, Smith recalled charging meager prices to show 16 mm and 35 mm films to audiences in the festival’s early days. It wasn’t until the mid-‘80s that organizers purchased their first video projector – a bulky piece of equipment that required multiple hands to set up.

“It took three or four guys to kind of get this camera loaded into our theater,” he said. 

For multiple decades, Smith said most of the films shown at the festival were created by filmmakers who were not Native Americans. When the festival began in the ‘70s – a time when tribes lacked the finances they have today – tracking down films from native people was especially a difficult endeavor. 

“Equipment was pricey,” he said. “Indian people really couldn’t afford to buy cameras.” 

In 2001, the nonprofit institute started a program that could help increase the number of native filmmakers. The AIFI Tribal Touring Program gives native youth the opportunity to work on film projects and learn marketable skills in the media industry. 

It’s important for tribes like Ak-Chin to be forward thinkers when it comes to media and see how it impacts the community, Smith said. 

He called the UltraStar Mult-tainment Center “a jewel” where future festivals could be hosted. The Ak-Chin Indian Community has been a long-time sponsor of the film festival.