FRONT-ROW SEAT: New film festival showcases Haudenosaunee visions
The free, virtual Haudenosaunee Filmmakers Festival will take place April 19-25
VICTOR -- Louise Herne, a Mohawk Clan Mother in the Bear Clan, muses when she considers the women’s movement, and its connections to the Haudenosaunee people.
“I remember growing up and listening to the grandmas, them hearing about feminism,” she says. “My grandma would say, ‘We’re not feminists – we're the law.”
It’s a moment of humor in Mohawk filmmaker Katsitsionni Fox’s film ”Without a Whisper: Konnon:kwe” about the women’s rights movement’s often unheralded roots in the matrilineal Haudenosaunee society – and a moment of truth. That's emblematic of many of the entries in the upcoming Haudenosaunee Filmmakers Festival: Haudenosaunee people telling their stories – from myth to often hidden history – to themselves, their community and the world. The stories range from the origins of lacrosse to the mythic account of the world’s birth. It serves as a showcase for directors, writers, actors, producers and other filmmakers from all throughout the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.