Saturday, March 18
National Museum of the American Indian
7:00 p.m., Rasmuson Theater
DINNER AND A MOVIE
“100 Years: One Woman’s Fight for Justice”
Director: Melinda Janko (USA, 2016, 76 min.)
Free and open to the public, registration encouraged (https://eventactions.com/eareg.aspx?ea=Rsvp)
When Elouise Cobell, a petite Blackfeet warrior from Montana, started asking questions about missing money from government managed Indian Trust accounts, she never imagined that one day she would be taking on the world’s most powerful government. But what she discovered as the Treasurer of her tribe was a trail of fraud and corruption leading all the way from Montana to Washington DC. “100 Years” is the story of her 30-year fight for justice for 300,000 Native Americans whose mineral rich lands were grossly mismanaged by the United States Government. In 1996, Cobell filed the largest class action lawsuit ever against the federal government. For fifteen long years, and through three Presidential administrations, Elouise Cobell’s unrelenting spirit never quit. This is the compelling true story of how she prevailed.
In attendance: Filmmaker, Melinda Janko and attorneys John Echohawk (Pawnee) and retired Ambassador Keith Harper (Cherokee)
The Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe will offer dinner à la carte until 6:45 p.m., the film screening begins at 7 p.m.
Admission is free but registering for the film is encouraged, and will reserve seats until 15 minutes before the screenings begin. Please visit https://eventactions.com/eareg.aspx?ea=Rsvp to pre-register, or for more information.
Sunday, March 19
National Museum of the American Indian
2:00 p.m., Rasmuson Theater
“Angry Inuk”
Director: Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuit); (Canada, 2016, 82 min.)
Free and open to the public
In her film Angry Inuk, Inuit director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril joins a new tech-savvy generation of Inuit as they campaign to challenge long-established perceptions of seal hunting. Though most commercial sealing is conducted by Inuit in the Arctic, anti-sealing activism has created a perception of the industry that denies their central role in the sealskin market. To reinsert themselves into the international discussion, these Inuit activists must inconvenience the fundraising campaigns of animal groups by using all the tricks in the social media book, and invent some of their own along the way, like “sealfies.” Seal meat is a staple food for Inuit, and many of the pelts are sold to offset the extraordinary cost of hunting. Inuit are spread across extensive lands and waters, and their tiny population is faced with a disproportionate responsibility for protecting the environment. They are pushing for a sustainable way to take part in the global economy, but in opposition stands an army of well-funded activists and well-meaning celebrities.
Filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril will join us from Nunavut by live video.