CAJUN
MUSIC AND TRADITIONS
Horace Trahan:
Hard Pressed but
Never Crushed
(19 min.)
Wilson Savoy and Bennet
Rhodes, 2004
Horace Trahan is a young
Cajun musician who challenges
borders between black
and white, Cajun and
Zydeco, organized religion
and his own brand of
belief.
Le ‘Tit
Mamou: Courrir de Mardi
Gras (17 min.)
Wilson Savoy and Bennet
Rhodes, 2004
The Tee Mamou is the
most traditional Mardi
Gras celebration in
Louisiana and one of
the rowdiest—involving
men in wacky outfits,
Cajun music and a chicken
chase.
Saturday: Filmmaker
Wilson Savoy participates
in a post-film discussion.
SURVIVAL
OF THE SMALL AMERICAN
FARMER
Broken Limbs:
Apples, Agriculture
and the New American
Farmer (57 min.)
Jamie Howell and Guy
Evans, 2004
In Wenatchee, the “Apple
Capital of the World,”
Guy Evans’ father
is losing the family
farm. To discover why,
Evans begins a journey
that takes him from
the burning orchards
of his hometown to the
global issues facing
all of America’s
farmers, discovering
a new breed of farmer
and a new hope for a
sustainable future.
Tobacco Money
Feeds My Family
(60 min.)
Cynthia Hill and Curtis
Gaston, 2004
Director Cynthia Hill
explores the experiences
of three small-town
tobacco farm families
and reflects on her
conflicted feelings
about growing up on
a tobacco farm. The
film is a meditation
on the bonds of community,
the fertility of memory
and the inevitable changes
brought by time.
WORKING ON THE RAILROADS
Gandy Dancers
Maggie Holtzberg-Call
and Barry Dornfeld,
1994
Musical traditions and
recollections of eight
retired African-American
railroad track laborers
whose occupational folk
songs were once heard
on railroads that crisscross
the South. They recount
experiences in the segregated
South, describe organized
labor and occupational
safety standards, and
demonstrate railroad
calls that survive today
as expressions of religious
faith, social protest
and sexually explicit
poetry.
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COMMUNITY-BASED
FILMMAKING
Janq’u Ndnak’dqhe’ul:
We’re Still Here
(16 min.)
The story of an Alaskan
tribe’s legal
struggle for the right
to revive a traditional
fishing site along the
Kenai River. Community
members explain that
the single fishing net
is the symbol of the
Kenaitze people in a
modern world. One of
a series of films created
in association with
the Pratt Museum in
Homer, Alaska, in which
community viewing of
footage and editing
influence the final
documentary.
“Deep West”
Videos
A series that focuses
on the daily experiences
of ranchers in rural
Nevada, produced by
the Western Folklife
Center.
- 50
Miles from Home
(10 min.). Linda and
Carolyn Dufurrena
paint a visual poem
through photographs,
footage and musings
about life on their
sheep ranch.
- Rescue
101 (8 min.).
Susan Church chronicles
daily life on the
ranch—such as
the time she setss
out in a heavy snowstorm
to rescue her stranded
husband. She kept
the camera running
the entire time.
- What’s
a Leppy? (6 min.).
The Church children
explain the work that
goes into the care
and feeding of leppies—orphan
calves.
- Welcome
as a Spring Rain
(10 min.). Peter Church
muses on the importance
of water and community
on his rain-starved
ranch.
MAPLE SUGAR MAKING
A Sweet Tradition:
The Love and Labor of
Maple Sugaring
(20 min.)
Children from maple
sugaring families in
Massachusetts guide
us through the annual
maple syrup harvest,
from tapping, gathering
and boiling to visiting
sugarhouses.
LIFE
ON THE OPEN RANGE
Ridin’ and
Rhymin’
(57 min.)
Dawn Smallman and Greg
Snider, 2005
Cowgirl and poet Georgie
Sicking pens tough rhymes
for hard times. At 82,
Georgie revisits the
places, people and challenges
that shaped her life
and her poetry. On horseback
driving cattle through
a mountain range or
on stage reciting poetry,
this intimate documentary
captures the remarkable
life of America’s
most revered cowgirl
poet.
Saturday: Georgie Sicking
and the filmmakers discuss
the film and maybe even
throw in a few poems.
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MUSIC
ACROSS THE GENERATIONS
For the Love of
the Tune: Irish Women
and Traditional Music
(29 min.)
Carol Spellman, 2002
A tribute to the women
in Ireland who have
contributed to its musical
heritage, often without
credit or recognition.
Folklorist Carol Spellman
traveled throughout
Ireland, meeting with
talented women who were
discouraged from performing
in public in their youth
but rediscovered the
music in later years,
passing on the “love
of the tune” to
their daughters.
Madison County
Project: Documenting
the Sound (32
min.)
Martha King and Rob
Roberts, 2005
The Madison County Project
revisits a much-documented
community of ballad
singers in the mountains
of Western North Carolina
to discover how the
tradition is passing
to the next generation.
The film examines the
relationship between
tradition bearers and
the people who document
them. Folklorist and
filmmaker John Cohen,
musician Peter Gott
and a family of 8th
and 9th generation singers
make special appearances.
FIRST
NATIONS OF THE NORTHWEST
Song on the Water:
The Return of the Great
Canoes (59 min.)
Robert Lundahl, 2004
Each year, coastal communities
of western Washington
and British Columbia
participate in sea voyages
in ancient-style dugout
canoes carved from cedar.
This is the story of
one year’s voyage
and what it means to
the ground crews and
pullers (elders) who
share the waves and
a vision of a positive
future for Coastal Salish
youth.
Huchoosedah: Traditions
of the Heart
(59 min.)
Katie Jennings, 1995
On Washington's Upper
Skagit Peninsula, tribal
elder, historian and
scholar Vi Hilbert works
to preserve the ancient
Lushootseed tongue as
a living language. Vi
shares language, stories
and songs with her community
and students from other
cultures, raising a
call for new storytellers
to remember the unique
Lushootseed perspective.
Teachings of the
Tree People
(20 min.)
Katie Jennings, 2005
Gerald Bruce (subiyay)
Miller played a key
role in the preservation
and persistence of the
language, oral traditions,
art and spirituality
of the Twana people
of Hood Canal. As a
teacher, elder and master
artist, he became a
link in the chain that
strengthens the culture
from one generation
to the next. The film
opens a window to audiences
on the traditional practice
of gathering and weaving
a cedar bark mat and
the ancient philosophy
imparted to us by the
first people, our oldest
teachers, the tree people.
Mr. Miller passed away
earlier this spring.
In respect of the wishes
of his family and community,
we ask that you refrain
from mentioning his
name during post-film
discussions.
Sunday: Filmmaker Katie
Jennings discusses her
work.
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REFUGEE
ELDERS’ TRADITIONAL
ARTS PROJECT
Something to Make
Life Happy (37
min.)
Immigrant and Refugee
Community Organization
and Amy Mills, 2004
Elders from six cultures
discuss the challenges
they face in a new country.
This film is part of
a project to give voice
to immigrant elders
in Portland who practice
traditional arts, from
Vietnamese silk painting
and Russian wood carving
to Hmong embroidery
and Eritrean foodways.
The elders were interviewed
by Portland area youth,
sparking an opportunity
for intergenerational
connection and learning.
100
YEARS OF THE FOREST
SERVICE
The Greatest Good
(123 min.)
From the dreams of visionary
foresters Gifford Pinchot
and Aldo Leopold to
today’s debates
over logging, endangered
species and fire fighting,
The Greatest Good narrates
the epic story of the
Forest Service’s
struggle to manage a
nation’s resources
amid cultural and global
change. The history
the Forest Service reveals
the ongoing challenge
of fulfilling Pinchot’s
founding goal: “…where
conflicting interests
must be reconciled,
the question will always
be decided from the
standpoint of the greatest
good of the greatest
number in the long run.”
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