Curator of "Through Indian Eyes": Filmmaker Valerie Red-Horse

There were neither campfires nor calumets when a band of domestic Indians and a band of foreign journalists united in a peaceful pow wow. They came together to support their mutual passions – American Indian reality and cinematic fiction. The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association are sponsoring a film series aptly named “Through Indian Eyes: Native American Cinema”. UCLA Film & TV Archive chose the films “Smoke Signals” (1998) and “Tenacity” (1994) followed by a Q&A with director Chris Eyre for the opening night on Saturday, October 4 at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood. The Native American Film Retrospective is curated by a team of Native American filmmakers, Valerie Red-Horse (photo) and Dawn Jackson, and will end on December 15, 2014. There is a long – and sad – history in portraying American Indians in Hollywood movies. To finally show the culture, struggles, art and humanity of Native Americans “through Indian Eyes”, is a long overdue correction of the distorted view prevalent in Hollywood’s history. In the last twenty years there have been a surprising number of films produced by Native Americans, compared to virtually zero in the 95 previous years of cinema history. The San Manuel reservation, which was established in 1891, is home to the Yuhaviatam clan of the Serrano Indians who are the indigenous people of the San Bernardino highlands, passes, valleys and mountains who share a common language and culture with other clans of the Serrano people. The reservation is named after Santos Manuel, a tribal leader, and is located in southern California, in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountain region, just north of the city of Highland. Encompassing gaming, governmental operations and other enterprises, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians is one of the largest employers in the Inland Empire area and employs over 3000 people. The San Manuel Indian Reservation, like other tribal lands in the United States, is a sovereign territory with a tribal nation and its own system of government. The organizers of the film series stated: "The fact that American Indians and foreigners got together in support of the cinematic creativity of Native Americans is both unusual and exceptionally laudable”. —ELMAR BIEBL