Bellevue Community College, WA American Indian Film Festival

Type: Program

Status: Launched in 2003

Source File: http://bellevuecollege.edu/aiff/

Description:

Bellevue Community College’s American Indian Film Festival honors the college’s commitment to cultural pluralism by introducing both the campus and area communities to works created by and with artists from the First Peoples and First Nations.

Phil Lucas, a Choctaw Indian who made over 100 films, founded the festival back in April 2003. Lucas, who died February 2008, was a Bellevue Community College instructor and an Emmy-winning, internationally known producer of feature films and documentaries. Under Phil’s leadership, the festival has showcased the works of filmmaker luminaries of Indian Country and provided a forum to discuss contemporary issues affecting First Nations.

The 2008 American Indian Film Festival edition will be honored by the presence of Seattle filmmaker Sandra Sunrising Osawa (Makah) as our keynote speaker. Ms. Osawa has led the movement of American Indians into obtaining key roles in the telling of their own stories. She has been an independent producer longer than any other Indian person in America. Her films feature Indian people in non-traditional, non-stereotypical roles that expand the definition of what being and Indian is all about.