Premiere of Silent Film Score to Highlight 15th Annual University of Arkansas Native American Symposium

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A new score written by silent film musicologist Rodney Sauer for the classic 1929 Paramount Technicolor feature Redskin, will have its premiere in a live performance by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, at 8 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 5, in Giffels Auditorium, Old Main.

This special screening is part of the 15^th Annual Native American Symposium to be held Nov. 2-9, and is one of the featured events of the University of Arkansas’ “Free Fall Festival of the Arts.”

 The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, directed by Sauer, is based out of Boulder, Colorado. It is highly acclaimed for live performances and the musical accompaniment on numerous DVD silent film releases,. 

Redskin focuses upon the impact that the forced attendance at a boarding school had on the lives of two Pueblo and Navaho students in the 1910s and 1920s. In his 1979 book, The War, the West, and the Wilderness, the world’s pre-eminent silent film historian, Kevin Brownlow noted, “the color in the original print is breathtaking; Redskin leaves an impression of a kaleidoscope of awe-inspiring backgrounds-- with so much happening in the foreground that one hardly has time to take in the whole frame… Redskin is long overdue for rediscovery.” Preserved by the Library of Congress, Redskin was recently restored and is now available in the National Film Preservation Foundation’s DVD set, Treasures III: Social Issues in American Film, 1900-1934 (2008).

The subject of Indian boarding schools in the 20^th century is also the theme of this year’s Native American Symposium. Redskin will be preceded by a panel entitled “Indian Boarding Schools of the 20^th Century: An Assessment,” at 7 p.m., in Giffels Auditorium. Panelists include Terri M. Baker, professor and chair of the department of languages and literature at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah; Lorna Beard, adjunct professor in anthropology and sociology at the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith; and Frank Scheide, professor in the department of communication at the University of Arkansas.

A citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Baker’s presentation is entitled, “Curriculum and Activities at Mission and Tribal Boarding Schools.” Beard, who has done extensive ethnographical work with Native Americans, will speak on " The Seneca Indian School: Voices from the 1930s". Scheide, a member of the Native American Symposium Committee, will show a video he produced entitled, “Interview with D.B. Whitekiller: Memories of Being a Cherokee Boarding School Student in the 1930s and 1940s.”

Baker, whose current research and writing draws on the experiences of her mother as a student at Goodland Indian Orphanage in the 1920s, will also be doing a presentation entitled, "American Indian Education in Indian Territory and Early Oklahoma," from 10:30 to 11:20 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5, in Giffels Auditorium, Old Main.

On Thursday, Nov. 6, Kirstin Erickson, associate professor in the department of anthropology, and Freddie Bowles, assistant professor of foreign language in the College of Education and Health Professions, will participate in a book forum on Indian boarding schools. Erickson, a specialist in Native American culture and social history, will give a presentation entitled, "Triumph over a uniform(ed) existence: the Diverse Experiences of Native American Students at Chilocco Indian Agricultural School." This will be a discussion of the book, They Called it Prairie Light: The Story of Chilocco Indian School, byK. Tsianina Lomawaima. Bowles, whose research includes the preservation and teaching of the Choctaw language in the public schools, will be discussing the book American Indian Education: A History, by Jon Reyhner and Jeanne Eder. This book forum will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, in the lounge of the Multiculture Center located in the UA Student Union.

This year’s Native American Symposium will conclude on Sunday, Nov. 9, with a screening, of the 2002 documentary, The Spirit of Annie Mae by the Omni Center for Peace’s Video Underground, The movie starts at 7 p.m. in the sanctuary on the main floor of the United Campus Ministry located at 902 West Maple in Fayetteville. Admission is free and the screen time is 73 minutes.

A special exhibit of art by Native American artist Tony Tiger, member of the Sac and Fox Tribe, will be displayed in Mullins Library throughout the time of the symposium. All symposium events are free and open to the public.

The 15^th Annual University of Arkansas Native American Symposium is hosted by students of the Honors Film Association. Sponsors include the Honors College, OMNI Center for Peace, Video Underground, Multicultural Center, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Arkansas Global Campus, the department of communication, the department of anthropology, Mullins Library, the College of Education and Health Professions and the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.