“What you water grows” is a saying that applies to the obvious, but also to what we water with our focus and attention. Where our attention goes, so does our energy. Deanne Vitrac-Kessler, founder of the Aspen Indigenous Foundation, has steadily been watering the highly humanistic Shining Mountains Film Festival since 2018.
Shining Mountains, held at the Wheeler Opera House, was born as a meaningful way to celebrate the first anniversary of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, recognized in Aspen in 2017. Its roots started in 2005, when Vitrac-Kessler met Ute elder Loya Arrum-Cesspooch at Sunlight Mountain Ski Resort. The now annual festival takes place during the weekend following the second Monday of October, when the commemoration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day occurs.
According to the American Psychological Association, resilience is “the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.” It was during the pandemic that this word became very popular, but for Native American communities, its meaning has been an intrinsic part of their existence for centuries.
This year’s festival portrayed through beautiful cinematography and captivating storytelling what resilience looks like for particular Indigenous tribes and individuals, according to their own specific and complex historical and geographical context.
The common thread that could be perceived through the films at this year’s festival was the firm resolution of Indigenous people to focus on how resilience has shaped, and continues to shape, their existence in a way that ain’t just about surviving, but embracing the full potential of their dreams and connection to their powerful roots and ancestors, in their unique tribal ways.
The festival speaks to people who are engaged to keep learning about stories untold in history books, popular culture and mainstream arts and entertainment; stories about the humans who “are not immigrants nor colonizers, but that have been here since day one,” as stated by Jimmy-John Thompson, director of one of the award-winning films this year, “We Are Still Here.”
The Best Film award went to “Sacred Dog,” a story about a Native American family’s use of the exhilarating Indian Relay to rise above their historically bloody and impoverished past, restore the primacy of the horse in Lakota tradition and to teach their young to be proud of their roots. The film also spotlights “The Victory Ride,” an annual inter-tribal ceremonial ride and living commemoration of a rare and celebrated triumph for Indigenous people over the U.S. Army in the face of westward expansion in 1876. In remembrance of the battle, known as the Battle of the Little Bighorn, for over 34 years Lakota elder William “Shorty” Brewer, awarded the Curator’s Award at the festival, has continued this empowering tradition, while training and mentoring Lakota youth to participate and to give them “a blueprint for the future.” People can find this amazing film online.
The Best Short Film award went to “Children of the Mountains,” a precious telling (also available online) that captures the process of elder Ron Six Bears Alec passing on the sweat lodge tradition he was taught. Alec has faced tribal disenrollment, a form of banishment and ostracization from tribal membership that about 11,000 Indigenous people in the U.S. have been facing over the past two decades. The film, as expressed by its director Ryan Flynn, served as healing medicine for the You’re No Indian social movement team.
The Audience Award went to short film “We Are Still Here,” which portrayed the Timbisha Shoshone people inhabiting what is known as “Death Valley” in California, an unfortunate term that Timbisha people have never liked. This tribe’s reservation is the only one within the boundaries of a national park. Their struggle for sovereignty and the survival of the community is the central point of the film.
“The land has a spirit, but protecting it requires a new generation to stand its ground,” the creators of the film expressed.
I have the deep conviction that the people that attend this film festival in the future will unavoidably be deeply touched by witnessing fellow humans portray their very profound form of resilience. The festival moves one’s soul, which is sure to be inspired and also motivated to do something in support of a cause. After all, we are all Indigenous to this earth, no matter our tribe, no matter our ancestry.
My prayer is that this precious gem of a festival gets bigger, that the voices of Native American communities get to be widely heard and, most importantly, that the attentive response from their relatives (all of us) gets bigger too.