Video short film "Chester Nez - Living History" by Navajo Oral History Project (Winona State University and Diné College)

Watch "Chester Nez - Living History" by Navajo Oral History Project (19 minutes) This documentary film was researched, photographed, edited and produced by students of Winona State University (Winona, Minnesota) and Diné College (Tsaile, Arizona, Navajo Nation) during summer 2012. It contains stories told by Chester Nez of Chichiltah, New Mexico, to the students during several hours of interviews about his life. Chester who passed away June 4th, 2014, was the last surviving member of The Original 29 Navajo Code Talkers who were recruited in 1942 to create a code using the Navajo language for use in the battlefield so the South Pacific. Chester and the rest of The Original 29 then took the code they created into battle. (Vimeo viewing Link)

This documentary film is archived at the Navajo Nation Museum, Navajo Nation Library, Winona State University Library, and Diné College Library, and at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian. The film is part of the Navajo Oral History project, a multi-year collaboration between the Winona State University Mass Communication Department and Diné College, the official Tribal College of the Navajo Nation.

Image Credit

Video short animation "Fly Me Around The World 自主制作アニメ" directed by Cheng Liang

Watch "Fly Me Around The World 自主制作アニメ" (2 min) A mystical girl meets a magical robot - together they enjoy the beauty of the world, the combined wonder of their imaginations, and the power of independent positive visualization. 

Directed by Cheng Liang
Music by Han Ding
2010 independent student film made at Tokyokogeidai Tokyo University of the Arts

Video short animation "Consumed" directed by Gasan Sallies

Watch "Consumed" (3:46 minutes) Consumed in technology, a man re-discovers himself through an unexpected journey.

Written and Directed by Gasan Sallies (animation, compositing, lighting)

2013 Student film at The Animation School in Cape Town and Johannesburg Africa

Image Credits: Gasan Sallies 

Video short film + podcasts "The Indian Thing ~ Restoring Mohawk: History. Identity. Family" by Paulette Moore

Watch "The Indian Thing ~ Restoring Mohawk: History. Identity. Family" by Paulette Moore
“Restoring Mohawk” is my own story; my family’s story. It’s a story about secrets and shame; about fear and being invisible and seeking and finding our own voice and identity and place. My grandfather Albert Hill was Mohawk Indian raised on Six Nations of the Grand River First Nations reserve southeast of Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Mildred Hill, my grandmother came from a poor Irish farming family near Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Mildred was feisty and funny as well as racist against her husband and children. Her fear and secrets and longing for place still impacts our family profoundly.

My mom Patricia Moore bore the brunt of my grandmother’s insecurity and a century-old Canadian policy called the Indian Act allowed and in fact encouraged my mom to erase the Indian identity that her mother taught her to despise.  In 1970 my mom sold our family’s Indian rights for less than $100. That meant our family relinquished all treaty and statutory rights as Native people and the rights to live in the reserve community. That action was called "Enfranchisement" also known as "The Gradual Civilization Act".

Click here to read the Full Story.

In 1985 the U.N. Human Rights Committee ruled the Indian Act was a grave human rights violation and Canada changed its laws around revoking Indian status.  My sister Pamela Latham and I seek to regain our Indian rights. My mom still struggles with her Indian history and identity.  “It’s not what I am,” she says. “But I don’t really know what I am.”
Click here to read the Full Story.

Audio Podcasts Part 1

Audio Podcasts Part 2

Original music created and performed by Kate Ofwono

Paulette Moore

“I am a journalist, documentary filmmaker and educator with narrative films rising. My interests lie in art, power, community, creative conflict, justice, beauty, technology and how all of those things intersect in this big, complex world.”

Moore is currently Associate Professor teaching digital media production & research and is with the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA and a consultant with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Geneva, Switzerland, creating films and a blog to promote gender justice and diversity within the organization.

Art and Neutralizing the Indian Act at NMAI

Art and Neutralizing the Indian Act at NMAI

Video short animation "Sleepwalk With Me" Directed by Fabricio Lima, Music by Young Galaxy

Watch "Sleepwalk With Me" (3:15 minutes) "This animated music video was inspired by a heartfelt story of two soldiers during the Second World War called "Letter to a G.I.". The true story, was first published in 1953, then in 1961. G.I. Brian Keith, in a letter to his new friend (another G.I. named Dave), describes the best moments of the war were for him when they became friends during the North African Campaign of 1943. The story ends with a farewell to Dave, who did not make it back home." YouTube lo res version

Directed by Fabricio Lima
Music by Young Galaxy

Images Credits: Fabricio Lima

Video short films "One Year One World: Voices of the Resistance Movement in Guatemala" by Maggie Padlewska (The Guatemala People versus Tahoe Resources Inc of Canada)

Watch "Voices of the Resistance Movement in Guatemala" (11 minutes July 2014)
In March 2014, human rights lawyer and activist, Rafael Maldonaldo, travelled to Canada to speak about the human rights violations and injustice taking place in San Rafael de Las Flores Guatemala - a region that is home to farmers and the country's Xinka community. "I want Canadians to know that the silver, and possibly the gold, that is being extracted from Guatemala - is bloodstained" he said. He also spoke about the lack of consultation between the country's government and Tahoe Resources Inc. (a Canada-based mining company), and the local communities in the region. This story is an exploration of the allegations, and a documentation of the voices of the communities impacted by Tahoe's Escobal Mine in San Rafael and surrounding areas.

Watch "On the Road for Justice" with Rafael Maldonado (3:50 minutes May 2014)
On March 18th, 2014, Guatemalan lawyer Rafael Maldonado spoke in Ottawa (capital city of Canada) about the Human Rights violations taking place near the site of Tahoe Resources Inc. - a silver mining company owned by a Canadian firm.

Watch "Roberto González Ucelo message to Otto Pérez Molina" (2 minutes July 2014 Spanish)
President of the Xinca Parliament in Guatemala, Roberto González Ucelo shares his personal message to Guatemala President Otto Pérez Molina

Filmmaker Maggie Padlewska
One Year One World - YouTube Channel

Watch: Amnesty International Canada is working with filmmakers to promote films which explore the impacts of Canadian mining operations on human rights and inspire Canadians to take action in defence of human rights. These films are available for screening in your community.

Read: Canadian Centre of International Justice

Read: Tahoe Resources website - ESCOBAL

Read: "Guatemalan Complainants Celebrate Effective Suspension of Tahoe Resources' Licence" (July 2014)

Read: "Lawsuit Against Tahoe Resources a Wake Up Call for Investors and Canadians (June 2014)

Read: "Guatemalans file lawsuit against Canadian mining company for 2013 shooting" (June 2014)

Read: Landmark Suit against Canadian Mining Firm Filed in BC (June 2014)

Read: "After Kidnappings and Killing, Canadian Silver Mining Project Advances in Guatemala" (April 2014)

Read: "TAHOE RESOURCES / GOLDCORP in Guatemala : Repression Going From Bad To Worse" (April 2013)

Image Credit

Image Credit: Photo of Escobal Mine: CPR Urbana

Video short films: "Hōkūle'a Worldwide Voyage" Polynesia Wayfinding by Stars, Sun, Ocean swells and other Signs of Nature

The Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage began in 2013 with a Mālama Hawaiʻi sail around our archipelago, and will continue through 2017 when our new generation of navigators take the helm and guide Hōkūle‘a and Hikianalia back to Polynesia after circumnavigating the globe. Hōkūle‘a and Hikianalia, our Polynesian voyaging canoes, are sailing across Earth’s oceans to join and grow the global movement toward a more sustainable world.

2017 Hōkūleʻa Worldwide Voyage - YouTube Channel (various videos)
2017 Tracking the voyage via the internet
Stay Connected with the voyage and crew

Polynesia Wayfinding Learning Center
40 Years of Voyaging - Timeline

Before the invention of the compass, sextant and clocks, or more recently, the satellite-dependant Global Positioning System (GPS), Pacific Islanders navigated open-ocean voyages without instruments, using instead their observations of the stars, the sun, the ocean swells, and other signs of nature for clues to direction and location of a vessel at sea. In the 20th century, this method was still practiced in some areas of Micronesia, although the traditional knowledge and techniques are in danger of being lost because of modernization and Westernization of the island cultures.

A revival of the art and science of wayfinding is underway among the Pacific islands, led by Nainoa Thompson, the first modern-day Polynesian to learn and use wayfinding for long-distance, open-ocean voyaging. Nainoa studied wayfinding under Mau Piailug, a master navigator from the island of Satawal in Micronesia. He also studied the movement and positioning of celestial bodies with Will Kyselka at the Bishop Museum planetarium in Honolulu, and oceanography and meteorology at the University of Hawai‘i. Mau navigated the first voyage of the Hokule’a to Tahiti in 1976; Thompson served as wayfinder on voyages of Hokule‘a in 1980, 1985-87, 1992 he began training new navigators from Hawai’i and other Pacific islands to perpetuate the tradition.

Voyage Map

2016 Watch: Hōkūle'a visits Nova Scotia (First Nation's Greeting)
2016 Hōkūle'a Visits Yarmouth Nova Scotia (local video, friendly meet and greet)

Watch "The Star Compass" (2:34 minutes July 2014) introduction into the Star Compass used by our ancestors for ocean navigation using a 360 degree circle divided into 32 even star houses.

Watch "Hokule'a Embarks" (14:22 minutes Aug 2014) Hokule'a and Hikianalia are Polynesian canoes that departed O'ahu earlier this year on a three-year journey around the world to encourage a more sustainable planet. The voyage will be equipped with state-of-the-art communications technology, including Google Hangout capabilities, videos and photos. This will allow everyone to be part of the worldwide voyage and learn about historical traditions and values that we may be able to use today to create a more sustainable future.

Watch "Through the Eyes of Ancestors" (4:02 minutes July 2014)
The two kiʻi that protect Hōkūleʻa are a reminder of the spirituality linking present voyages to the wisdom of our ancestors.

Watch "Navigating Time" (3 minutes June 2014)
Apprentice navigators talk about the challenges they face making time to study the traditional skill of navigation while also meeting the demands of their contemporary lifestyles.

Watch "The Legend Returns" (3:38 minutes June 2014)
On March 24, 2014, the traditional sailing canoe Hawaiʻiloa returned to the sea after more than a decade on land. Led by master canoe builder Uncle Jerry Ongies, a small, committed group of volunteers has worked tirelessly to accomplish this historic task.

Watch "Changing Tides" (4:15 minutes July 2014)

Watch "Worldwide Voyage | Maupiti Stone Fishing" (4:36 minutes July 2014)

Watch "An Ocean Laboratory" (4:12 minutes July 2014)

"Learning Journey" (various videos)
Propagating Peace (3:12 minutes)

Coral Planting (3:10 minutes July 2014)

Te Fenua o Fare Hape (2:45 minutes July 2014)

Learning Center web-links

Website link to Video Library

Polynesia Voyaging Society website (various videos)

Ōiwi TV - Youtube Channel (various videos)

Image Credit

Image Credit

"Aloha" PEACE

PEACE