Queer Native women's films

Native Two Spirit films premiere at festival

By Wilhelm MurgThe Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project came together to promote the creation, exhibition, and distribution of new films and videos that increase the visibility of queer women of color, authentically reflects their life stories, and addresses the vital social justice that concerns their communities. The 6th Annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival will be held June 11–13 at San Francisco’s Brava Theater, and admission is free.

On June 12, the festival will have its featured screening, “Reclaiming Remembrance,” which showcases films made by Native Two Spirit (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) filmmakers, including “Two Embrace,” a film by Diné Navajo/Oneida Iroquois activist Carrie House. This animated short illustrates the border tribes and Two Spirit peoples’ first contact with European Christians.

Apache writer Rope Wolf examines the American Indian connection to the Bay Area urban reservation in “Two Spirits: Belonging.” Diné Navajo educator Esther Lucero and Seminole professor Dr. Melinda Micco center their film “Killing The 7th Generation” on American Indian women who were sterilized without their consent. Chiricahua Apache elder Ruth Villasenor explores the legacy of colonization that created California’s Proposition 8, the California Marriage Protection Act which overturned the California Supreme Court’s ruling that same-sex couples have the right to marry.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Two Spirits Documentary Reviewed and Native Documentaries and News.

Below:  "This screen capture is from Ruth Villasenor’s 2009 film Traditional Indigenous Values, which will be part of the featured screening at the 6th Annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival.