Film series kicks off NSU’s 44th Annual Symposium on the American Indian

(Tahlequah, Okla.)-- A film series featuring culturally rich movies will kick off events at Northeastern State Universitys 44th Annual Symposium. Our Church will be shown onMonday, April 11 at 6 p.m. in the Tahlequah campus Webb Auditorium and Rising Voices will be shownTuesday, April 12 at 6 p.m., also in the Webb Auditorium.

Our Church features members from Rock Springs Indian Baptist Church, located in Sasakwa, Oklahoma, and is a story about the history of old Indian churches, their traditional ways and the paranormal events that occur on the grounds. The film will be presented by Mark D. Williams and the Native American Paranormal Project. Our Church is Choctaw filmmaker, Williams, latest work and the film was the fifth documentary from the NAPP series.

Williams began writing and directing films in 2006 and is the founder of Native Boy Productions, LLC. He was worked on many projects in his career including The Adventures of Josie the Frybread Kid, which won Best Comedy, Best Director, and Best Childrens Film, The Unrest, which won two Best Feature Awards, and Violet, which received twelve awards and over 25 nominations from over 24 film festivals across the United States and Canada.

Rising Voices tells the story of a passionate, dedicated and diverse group of people, including members of the Lakota community and Linguists from outside of the community, who are working together to save the language and restore it to its rightful place in Lakotaand Americanculture. Wilhelm Meya will present this film.

Meya is the executive producer of the film Rising Voices and is the chief executive officer of the Language Conservancy. He is a national advocate for endangered languages and draws on more than 20 years of experience in higher education, linguistics, and nonprofit management.

Sara Barnett, director of the Center for Tribal Studies, watched Rising Voices at the National Indian Education Association conference in Portland, Oregon, last fall and was impressed by the effort of the Lakota people to preserve and revitalize their language.

I was surprised to learn there were non-natives involved in teaching the language; of course, there were some Lakota tribal members who were apprehensive about this at first, but then later expressed an appreciation for their involvement in the project.

Both films are free to attend and open to the public. View more information regarding the Film Series and the Symposium.