Santa Fe, NM (PRWEB) November 24, 2009
Summer Sun Winter Moon, a thought-provoking documentary film that exposes viewers to the reality of the American Indian perspective of Lewis and Clark’s legendary “Corps of Discovery” mission, will be featured at the Southwest Association for the Indian Arts (SWAIA) Native Cinema Showcase on November 29, 2009, at 12:30 pm. The event is a new component of the Winter Showcase of Native art, and is an extension of SWAIA’s partnership with the Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Admission to the special screening at the Santa Fe Convention Center on 201 West Marcy Street is free with the purchase of a General Winter Showcase Ticket.
Rapidly earning acclaim as the most important Native American-themed documentary aired during primetime on PBS throughout National American Indian Heritage Month, a groundswell of interest from the American viewing public has compelled station affiliates nationwide to schedule additional broadcasts of the controversy-laden film.
Press kits including current biographies, hi-res images, music samples, and HQ Video Trailers are available for download at the Summer Sun Winter Moon media hub. Requests for interviews, appearances, and photo ops with the principal filmmakers and talent should be directed to Herman Gallegos via email: press@1680pr.com. Bloggers with credentials and members of press may request a full-length DVD for review.
Find additional press information regarding Summer Sun Winter Moon’s nationwide media launch here. Please also visit Summer Sun Winter Moon on the PBS Interactive site.
Follow Summer Sun Winter Moon on twitter for up-to-date information about film festival screening schedules, sneak previews, artist interviews, and special events featuring the Grammy award-winning Native American group Black Eagle.
Become a fan on Summer Sun Winter Moon’s facebook page and view additional HQ video footage not seen in the final cut, in addition to the video diary of Jesse DesRosier – an intimate look into the life of a teenage boy who resides on his native Blackfeet reservation. The videos capture the challenges DesRosier faces as a young American Indian who lives in two worlds: modern mid-America and that of his traditional heritage.
SYNOPSIS:
Rob Kapilow, a celebrated classical music artist, is commissioned to compose a symphonic work with a specific theme: a reflection of the enduring legacy of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Often referenced as a young Leonard Bernstein, the youthfully energetic Kapilow foregoes his original intent to set the journals of Lewis and Clark to music, choosing to actually re-trace the journey himself as a catalyst for fresh inspiration.
Upon engaging tribal representatives out West in active dialogue about how best to convey their stories, Kapilow finds himself overwhelmed at the crossroads of textbook history and the tangible perspective of the American Indian. Seeking to collaborate with Blackfeet tribal member Darrell Robes Kipp, the innovative artist delves into a sharply alternative – and controversial – avenue of perspective: that of the indigenous storyteller’s view “from the river bank, not the boat.”
“There’s nothing to celebrate here…not for Indian people,” says Darrell Robes Kipp, referencing the planned events for the celebration of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. The co-founder of the Nitzipuahsin Blackfeet Language Immersion School, Kipp is a poet and educator who has been laboring to salvage his native people’s language from the brink of near-extinction. Enlisted by Kapilow, Kipp agrees to author the libretto for the symphony project, offering his own hand to the composer who dared to reach across the divide.
Executive Producer Cynthia Newport and award-winning Director Hugo Perez bring to the national viewing audience Summer Sun Winter Moon’s inherent declarations of truth, proving to be important and timely in what it tells us about ourselves, about our place in time, and about the choices we have to make moving forward. While there are two sides to every story, viewers are challenged to “learn the one, controversial truth” – haunted by the words of two storytellers with one story that can only be interpreted by each individual.
About the Filmmakers:
Executive Producer Cynthia Newport is the founder and president of illume productions, which originated and developed Summer Sun Winter Moon. Previously, she worked with Rob Kapilow as Chief Producer of Monuments at the Millennium – an arts collaboration involving the Kennedy Center, National Public Radio (NPR), the Kreeger Museum, and the National Symphony Orchestra, as well as a dozen community-based organizations. Newport is also director/producer of Fidel’s Last Dance, a feature-length film scheduled for Spring 2010 release.
In addition to directing and producing Summer Sun Winter Moon, Hugo Perez is the Producer and Director of the feature documentary Neither Memory Nor Magic, which is narrated by the Academy-Award Nominated Patricia Clarkson. In 2008, he was a recipient of the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation/Tribeca Film Institute Emerging Artist Fellowship in support of the development of his first narrative feature Immaculate Conception. Perez’ short film Julietta Y Ramon was broadcast as part of the 2005 Showtime Latino Filmmaker Showcase; after which his short film Betty La Flaca was the winner of the 2006 HBO/NYILFF Short Film Award. Most recently, Hugo Perez was presented with the 2009 Estela Award for Documentary Filmmaking at the NALIP 10th Anniversary National Conference.
About illume productions:
illume productions is an enterprise engaged in the development of multimedia products – including feature-length films – that focus on the intersection of arts and community: a neighborhood, a nation, or a whole culture. illume’s projects use the arts as channels into complex issues including individual and national identity, human rights, democracy, health and education.
Contact:
Herman Gallegos
1680PR
505-227-2580
http://www.1680PR.com
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"Summer Sun Winter Moon shreds the pages of textbook history."