Video: documentary film "Conspiracy To Be Free" (Russell Means, the Movie) by Lifted Films director Colter Johnson, executive-producer Pearl Daniel-Means

Russell Means, the Movie: Watch the 21 minute Trailer-Introduction for "Conspiracy To Be Free"

"The late Lakota activist Russell Means was also a film actor, so this won't be the first time his face has loomed large on the silver screen. But this is different from Natural Born Killers, Last of the Mohicans, two of Means' better known films -- this time, Means isn't playing a character in a story. This time, in Conspiracy to Be Free, Russell Means is the story. The documentary is being executive-produced by Pearl Daniel-Means, Russell's widow, and directed by Colter Johnson" - "Indian Country Today" Media Network.com 

Russell Means Legacy.com - "The film will illuminate the many different methods and talents Russell Means used to galvanize the immense power of the media in his fight for freedom, making an impact through acting in Hollywood blockbusters, writing, painting and fine art, political protests and campaigns. He is perhaps most widely noted for several historic speeches that have elevated him into the pantheon of great American statesmen. Few individuals in history have had such a powerful and lasting impact on humankind’s quest for liberty and freedom."

'We Are All Related" 
a blog post by "Somos en escrito" The Latino literary online magazine

Related posts:
Honouring Russell Means, Remembering a Legend: Films by Explore.org "There's Hope", and "God's Cathedral"

Video Feature Documentary: "Dakota 38 + 2" produced by Smooth Feather Productions and "2012 - Dakota 38 Memorial" Dedication  in Mankato, MN USA

Indigenous Protest: Oglala Lakota Nationals Prevent Oil Pipeline Deliveries Destined for Canadian Tar Sands Being Transported Across the Pine Ridge Reservation’s Treaty Territory

Video Film and Free Poster Dowload: "Honor The Treaties" by Eric Becker (Gratitude, Honors and Blessings to the Oglala Lakota Nation) Poster artwork by Shepard Fairey, Ernesto Yerena with Photos by Aaron Huey 

Native American Oglala Lakota Nation, Pine Ridge Community Storytelling Project (with Aaron Huey photographer and National Geographic)

Video documentary short "Honor the Earth: Ride for Mother Earth - the Triple Crown of Pipeline Rides" 

Image Credits: Russell Means Legacy

Treaty Projects

The Name of Clouds

Video: documentary short film "DENÉ A JOURNEY - Denehdeh: My Homeland – Episode 5" by Ice Television

Video "DENE A JOURNEY - Denehdeh: My Homeland – Episode 5" a documentary short film by ICE TELEVISION. An unexpected transformation behind the cameras. Amos Scott and Riel Stevenson-Burke discover themselves as northern indigenous storytellers. Other episodes and website

 About Dené culture and the Dené Nation
"The Dené Nation, not the organization itself, but all of the people in Denendeh, are part of a larger family of Aboriginal cultures known as the Athapaskan people. The larger family include other related Athapaskan-speaking people those in Alaska who call themselves Den'a ("the people") and the Navajo and Apache who live in the American Southwest. The Dené were spread across an immense terrain of land to the north that stretched from the Alaska coast extending through Yukon territory and beyond the Mackenzie Delta region in the Arctic Circle and almost reaching the Hudson Bay in the east." mini description from website

DENE A JOURNEY by ICE TELEVISION

ICE TELEVISION is Indigenous Circumpolar Entertainment

Artist's Statement:

"ICE will be the hub of circumpolar information from news, current affairs, indigenous films, arts and entertainment to web coverage of culturally unique events. Visit us often and watch how we grow from our home in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories Canada to include our northern neighbours around the Circumpolar world. 

These are fast changing times for Indigenous Peoples in the Circumpolar world. There are high demands on our rich northern resources and the demands will only intensify as the clock keeps ticking into the future. 

ICE is here so people can find the information they need about Circumpolar issues and perspectives from our northern communities. ICE is proud to launch with our feature program, Dene A Journey Season 1. Dene A Journey is a doc series of indigenous guts, grit and smoky beauty."

Also check out the series of interview with OUR DENE ELDERS

Video: short documentary film "Arising Insight: Women In Teachings" by Vanessa Claxton

Watch "Arising Insight: Women in Teachings"
A short 7 minute documentary film by Vanessa Claxton 
Artist's Statement: "Indigenous Grand-Mother's faith in Love. A kind of awakening all around the world regarding Women and their role in teachings. Four women from the Vancouver Island area identify the restorative energy instilled within them at infancy. In being treasured and appreciated, they were able to overcome hardships and oppression, leading them in their life paths to gain valuable insight and sharing - and continue to value their roles by encouraging others especially youth, and young ones."

Video: short film "Finding Welkin" by Jay Salbert, about 'Finding The Things That Connect Us' (inspired by George Orwell's "1984", Book 1, Chapter 10)

Watch "Finding Welkin" a short 2:22 film by Jay Salbert, about finding the things that connect us.

Inspired by George Orwell book ‘1984’ (Book 1, Chapter 10)

Narration by Cori Dunton

About the artist: "Jay Salbert is an American filmmaker and photographer. For three years, he created short and feature films for Invisible Children, a media-based nonprofit aimed at ending the longest running war in Africa and providing support for the war-affected communities. He’s well-traveled and has spent extensive time in central Africa documenting the communities affected by Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army. Currently, he’s working as a freelance director, videographer, editor, and photographer." Bio from artist's website

Video short film: "Northern Lights" by Sonja Phillips (about Pekka Parviainen atmospheric-phenomena astrophotographer)

Watch "Northern Lights" (2013) (2:30 minutes)
A short film about Pekka Parviainen, atmospheric phenomena astrophotographer. Directed by Sonja Phillips

Born in 1954, Parviainen has lived his whole life in southern Finland at a latitude of 60 N. He graduated from Turku University in applied mathematics and worked at the university as a researcher and lecturer for 15 years. For the past ten years he has been a professional photographer specializing in atmospheric phenomena around the world. Many of his photos have appear in publications worldwide. Parviainen began photographing the night sky in 1973 with a Pentax film camera and the 6-inch refracting telescope of his local astronomy club. The cloudy weather of his country led him to focus on other phenomena common to northern skies as well, including auroras, noctilucent clouds, mirages, halos and rare atmospheric events. He still feels most at home in nature under a clear, wide-open sky with unlimited vistas, seeking beautiful sky phenomena to photograph.

Bio courtesy of TWAN (The World At Night)

LIVE Camera of Northern Lights

TED Talk: What do the northern lights sound like?

Recording: The Sound of the Aurora Borealis  

Image Credit: Pekka Parviainen

Video short film "Slow Life" by Daniel Stoupin (ocean-macro slow-motion time-lapse photography-videography)

Watch "Slow Life", slow marine animals show their secret life under high magnification. This 3:38 minute film is actually 150,000 macro photography shots, with original shallow depth of field extended using focus stacking. Each frame of the video is actually a stack of 3-12 individual shots, with in-focus areas are digitally merged.

All Images by Daniel Stoupin

Corals and sponges are very mobile creatures, but their motion is only detectable at different time scales compared to ours and requires time lapses to be seen. These animals build coral reefs and play crucial roles in the biosphere, yet we know almost nothing about their daily lives.

Website, Blog, Making of and About the Artist: Daniel Stoupin, photographer, videographer, filmmaker and Macroworlds Photography website

All Images by Daniel Stoupin

Video short documentary "Native Lines - La Trocha de Platanares" by Cameron Ellis and Ian Bell (Would you like to know what products you buy that contribute to the deforestation and extermination of Panama's Indigenous culture and community?)

 

Watch the documentary "Native Lines - La Trocha de Platanares" (short 11 minutes, 2013) The winter in North America is the dry season in Panama. For Wounaan communities on the Pacific Coast of Panama’s Darien, the dry season means a high-stakes conflict with illegal loggers invading their land and stripping their forests. The 2012 logging season was the worst in history for the three Wounaan communities of Rio Hondo, Platanares and Maje. Hundreds of acres of pristine tropical forest were lost, rivers were destroyed, downstream communities starved, and violent conflict left the leader of Platanares Indigenous peoples dead.

Would you like to know what products you buy that contribute to the deforestation and extermination of Panama's Indigenous community, and their culture?

In the spring of 2013, Cameron Ellis and Ian Bell traveled to Panama to capture footage and document the impact illegal logging is having on the Wounaan communities of Rio Hondo and Platanares. Please enjoy this short film.

The filmmakers returned in 2014 to document the increased deforestation and conflict, and a full version of the documentary is currently under review at international film festivals! Thanks in part to this Indiegogo Campaign

Statement of Filmmakers: "Our goal is to raise awareness of this conflict and apply pressure to a Panamanian government that has kept it’s neglect of indigenous populations under the radar, while selling the country off to foreign expats, profiteers and narcos."

Cameron is an anthropologist and map maker. Cameron works with the Wounaan people through the NGO Native Future mapping their lands in an effort to help the Wounaan gain legal title to their communities.

Ian is a social scientist and filmmaker who has spent the last few years telling the stories of small non-profits around the world through film.

They have come together to work on this project because of the urgency of the conflict and the extraordinary people whose tropical forest home is being decimated.

Want to help support or know more: Native Future.org
Mission Statement

Panama: Indigenous Communities Face Imminent Eviction

Related Articles, Reserch and Photos:

About Panama's Indigenous People: The Wounaan + The Ngäbe and the Buglé

Panama Indigenous Shine Light on Deforestation Caused by Illegal Activity

Panama: Indigenous Communities Face Imminent Eviction

CIEL: Groups Appeal to UN to Halt Imminent Forced Evictions of Indigenous Ngöbe Community

CIEL Stands with Ngöbe Buglé People of Panama: Repression Cannot Replace Consent 

Kato Inowe photography

Drug Trafficking Drives Deforestation in Central America: Study 

Praying for Dry Land in Panama

World Bank forced to admit failings on controversial human rights scandal

Harvard Forum on mining and other major development projects affecting indigenous peoples

Panama: UN expert calls for recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights

Panama: UN expert to study situation of indigenous peoples in the country

The United Nations Special Rapporteur's "Country Reports" evaluate the situations of indigenous peoples in selected countries and offer recommendations to governments and other actors on how to address particular matters of concern within the framework of applicable international standards. These reports are based on information gathered during the Special Rapporteur's visits to the countries as well as on independent research conducted by him and his support team on the relevant issues, peoples and locations.

United Nations Special Rapporteur's "Special Reports" focus on specific topics, themes or situations. A Special Report may include observations and detailed analysis on a specific case usually following a visit to the country concerned. Thematic issues are also addressed in the Special Rapporteur's annual reports to the Human Rights Council and General Assembly.

Videos by Country: UN Special Rapporteur of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Research of Dr. Julie Velásquez Runk, University of Georgia and Publications

Want to help support or know more: Native Future.org

Leonides Quiroz 

speaking at a hearing of the 

Inter-American Comission on Human Rights, 2010 

The Wounaan Higher Education Project provides between ten and twenty annual scholarships to secondary students in rural Darien and East Panamá communities, and to Wounaan students attending University. High school education is often cost prohibitive to many Wounaan students because they must live outside their villages to attend, and transportation and housing are expensive. 

The $300 received by the average student does not cover all expenses, but is considered an important motivation to continuing their education. Higher Education scholarships are instrumental to preparing Wounaan to fill critical leadership roles. 

In 2011, Wounaan Higher Education scholar, Leonides Quiroz, successfully completed his university studies and defended his thesis becoming the first Wounaan lawyer. Leonides’s commitment to his people’s cause compelled him to pursue law school and lead the legal fight to protect Wounaan rights. 

Today, Leonides serves as legal counsel for the Wounaan is the President of the Fundacion para el Desarrollo del Pueblo Wounaan (FUNDEPW) and on a daily basis is on the frontlines defending the rights of his people.

Video short documentary "The Fantastic Logic of Eternity" by David Springbett

Watch the full documentary "The Fantastic Logic of Eternity" (44 minutes, 2014)
Filmmaker's Statement: "What do we mean when we invoke the ‘eternal’? This one hour program explores the concept of eternity, as expressed in art and pop culture, and by writers, physicists, religious scholars, and historians. Broadcast premiere March 24, 2014 on VisionTV (Canada)."

"Our work is driven by our curiosity about ideas, people, and life as it’s lived. It’s taken us to over 30 countries where we’ve been privileged to meet a few of the many unsung local heroes who are quietly making their communities better places." - Asterisk Productions

Produced by Asterisk Productions is an independent production company based in Victoria, British Columbia, and established by David Springbett and Heather MacAndrew in 1976. They started out in 16mm film, and continued through many changing forms of videotape, making documentaries and other audio visual materials for television, for grassroots community groups, and for the classroom.

Their work covers a spectrum of social, environmental, political and natural history issues…and the links between them. And within that, they are drawn to stories about the many and often surprising ways social change occurs and the human spirit flourishes.

Image Credit: Chandra - DEM L241

 (Hardy Star Survives Supernova Blast)

Brian Paisley narrator of "The Fantastic Logic of Eternity" 

Photograph by: Chandra X-ray Observatory Center 

Article: Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia)

Video short TED Talk "What I Learned Going Blind In Space" by Chris Hadfield

Watch: TED Talk "What I Learned Going Blind In Space"
The danger is entirely different than the fear. There's an astronaut saying: In space, "there is no problem so bad that you can't make it worse." So how do you deal with the complexity, the sheer pressure, of dealing with dangerous and scary situations? Retired colonel Chris Hadfield paints a vivid portrait of how to be prepared for the worst in space (and life) -- and it starts with walking into a spider's web.
You Tube Link for TED Talk "What I Learned Going Blind In Space"

 “Good morning, Earth.”
 That is how Colonel Chris Hadfield, writing on Twitter, woke up the world every day while living aboard the International Space Station.

"He is a fighter pilot, a test pilot and an aeronautical engineer capable of docking a rocket ship. But that's not why the world loves him. Of the hundreds of astronauts who have gone into space, none has humanised it quite the way Hadfield has. " - Guardian (UK media)

More links:
Video Music: Commander Chris Hadfield Sings Plays David Bowie's Space Oddity in Space (on board the International Space Station) + Patrick LaMontagne painting "The Space Between Us"

Video Music: Chris Hadfield, Ed Robinson (Barenaked Ladies) Perform "I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing)" - The first space-to-earth musical collaboration + "Moondance" (with Chieftains) and Peter Gabriel Talking with ISS Crew

Video Short: Captain Kirk a.k.a. Willam Shatner Phones the I.S.S. and Talks with Chris Hadfield (34 minutes)

Video short animation "Once, I Was" by Carolina Grönholm (2014, 56 seconds)

view here "Was, I Once" a short animated poem of the heart, based on a true story

Created by Carolina Grönholm, a freelance illustrator and creative artist based in the northern atmosphere in Sweden where she lives amongst deep fairy tale forests and big cuddly bears. Website, Etsy Store and Google Blogspot and  Facebook


                                     "Foxy Moon" by Carolina Grönholm

"Foxy Moon" by Carolina Grönholm

Video short animation "Flutter" by Fiona Coveney

Watch "Flutter", a two minute short animation about a paper robot looking for companionship that comes across an unlikely friend from a different world. Created by Fiona Coveney (website)

Official Selection 2014: "Shorts That Are Not Pants"

Official Selection 2014: "Animated Exeter"

Image Credits: Fiona Coveney

Video short film "The Centrifuge Brain Project" "Das Centrifuge Brain Project" directed by Till Nowak

"The Centrifuge Brain Project" (English version) 

This one of my all time favourite short films!

"Das Centrifuge Brain Project" (German version)

Award winning 6.5 minute short film and art project 

written and directed by Till Nowak