Documentary on Navajo weaving

“Weaving Worlds”...Where Weaving Blankets Means Much More than Blanket Weaving Being Navajo—the language, customs, even the dusty landscape—is explored vis-à-vis the challenges of contemporary artisans in the 2007 documentary, Weaving Worlds. Directed and written by Dine filmmaker Bennie Klain, the film gives an intimate view of the Navajo Nation far away from the curio shops and Indian motel marquees familiar to most travelers.

What we learn is that the Dine weavers who craft the textiles sold for hundreds and thousands of dollars are hardly getting rich off the deal. Quite the opposite; it is the white traders who reap the financial largesse on the backs of artists whose rugs hang in the homes of affluent Americans and Europeans. Despite the unfairness, the weavers define the value in what they do beyond mere dollars and cents.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Native Documentaries and News.