By Mabel Pais
One Earth Film Festival with the City of Chicago presents action opportunities in celebration of Earth Day 2023, April 19-23
One Earth Film Festival with the City of Chicago’s Office of Climate and Environmental Equity, following its 12th season in March, will celebrate Earth Day with its annual “Earth Day Mini Fest,“ April 19-23.
The mini fest continues One Earth’s 2023 theme, “Let’s Get Loud,” with five screening events of top films and engaging discussions intended to illuminate environmental issues and equip audiences with the tools to take concrete actions to mitigate climate change and address environmental justice. Films topics range from the food justice movement in Black and Indigenous communities, understanding and reimagining wildfires, the global citizen-led fight to address traffic violence, and innovation inspired by nature.
On Earth Day, which is Saturday, April 22 a full day of programming will celebrate the 53rd anniversary of Earth Day. Festivities include the Earth Day Clean Up at Columbus Park and the Earth Day Action Fair, followed by a screening of “Biocentrics” at the Chicago Cultural Center.
SCHEDULE
Saturday, April 22, 2023
Earth Day Clean Up at Columbus Park
In partnership with BUILD Chicago, Openlands, One Earth Collective, Field Museum, Friends of the Parks, Interfaith Green Network, Oak Park Climate Action Network, Seven Generations Ahead Location: Meet at pavilion/shelter house north of Columbus Park Field House on Central Ave, Chicago.
- 9:00 a.m. sign in at the shelter/pavilion
- 9:00-11:30 a.m. trash clean-up, garden prep and mulching
- 11:30-12:30 p.m. reflection and lunch
Earth Day Action Fair at the Chicago Cultural Center
In partnership with the City of Chicago’s Office of Climate & Environmental Equity
Location: Chicago Cultural Center 2nd Floor Rotunda, 78 E Washington St, Chicago
- 12:30-2:00 p.m. groups present work, opportunities, and events with
refreshments and fellowship with other environmental advocates
- 2:00-4:30 p.m. watch-party of the award-winning film, “Biocentrics” and dialogue
with activists in the Cultural Center’s adjacent Claudia Cassidy Theater
EARTH WEEK MINI FEST FILMS AND SCHEDULE
Most events are free and all watch parties can be attended virtually
All Listings in Central Daylight Time
1) “Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire” | April 19, 6:30 p.m. | Thatcher Woods Pavilion,
River Forest | Gorton Center, Lake Forest
2) “Follow the Drinking Gourd” | April 20, 6:30 p.m. | UIC Lecture Center F | Old St. Pat’s Church
3) “Remothering the Land” | April 20, 6:30 p.m. | UIC Lecture Center F | Old St. Pat’s Church
4) “Invisible Hand: Rights of Nature Documentary” | April 21, 6:30 p.m. | Truman College, Chicago
5) “Biocentrics” | April 22, 2 p.m. | Chicago Cultural Center | Wayfarer Theaters, Highland Park
6) “The Street Project” | April 23, 3 p.m. | Chicago Public Library, Humboldt Park Branch | Chicago Public Library, Austin Branch | Big Marsh Bike Park, Chicago
One Earth Film Festival’s 12th annual regular season ran March 3-12 and featured ten thought-provoking and sharply focused films screened at venues across Chicago and virtually to audiences around the globe. The hybrid festival reached several thousand people through its watch parties, including panel discussions with subject experts and post-film Q&As.
TICKETS
Mini fest tickets are free with a suggested donation.
Learn more atoneearthfilmfest.org.
One Earth Film Festival
One Earth Film Festival is the Midwest’s premier environmental film festival, creating opportunities for understanding climate change, sustainability and the power of people.
It showcases top-issue, thought-provoking environmental films, leads audiencesin interactive post-film discussions focused on solutions, and offers concrete actions people can take.
One Earth Film Festival is a production of One Earth Collective.
Learn more at oneearthfilmfest.org.
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FILM OPPOSES DEMEANING OF NATIVE PEOPLES & OTHERS
American Natives protest. (Credit : imaginingtheindianfilm.org)
By Mabel Pais
IMAGINING THE INDIAN: THE FIGHT AGAINST NATIVE AMERICAN MASCOTING
Dirs: Aviva Kempner & Ben West l USA l 2021 l 1h 35m
“The Original Sin occurred the minute Europe touched Native shores in North America and South America.”
- Richard West, Jr. (Southern Cheyenne)
‘Imagining the Indian’ is a comprehensive examination of the movement to eradicate the names, words, slurs, logos, images, and gestures that many Native Americans and their allies find demeaning and offensive. The film takes a deep-dive into the issues through archival footage and interviews with those involved in the fight. The psychological research is clear, the use of Native American mascots is detrimental, not only to Native people, but to marginalized groups everywhere. The film investigates the impact that caricatures like Chief Wahoo — the cartoonish former logo of the Cleveland Baseball Team — gestures like the Atlanta Baseball Team’s, “tomahawk chop” and epithets like the Washington Football Team’s former moniker, “Redskins,” have on the Native community, the sports community and society in general.
It introduces the audience to Suzan Shown Harjo, President of the Morning Star Institute and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, whose 50-year fight against the exploitation of American Indians in the sports world is used as a lens through which to investigate the history of this issue.
The film provides an account of the genocidal history of Native peoples on this continent, and its role in proliferating negative stereotyping in sports, movies and television. A range of opinions are explored among Natives and non-Natives, including the staunch and steadfast opposition exhibited by Harjo and her contemporaries in advocacy over the years. “Changing the names for the Washington Football team and Cleveland’s baseball team was long overdue, but the victory is only piecemeal until names are also changed in Atlanta for baseball, in Chicago for hockey, and in Kansas City, and don’t ignore the almost 2000 other teams with problematic names,” said Co-Director Aviva Kempner.
“Imagining the Indian is a film that addresses the misrepresentation of Native peoples in sports, television, movies, pop-culture and beyond. We are proud that this film is a product of Indian Country, and that its goals are for the good of all people,” said Co-Director Ben West (Cheyenne).
“Eradicating mascoting of native people will rid us of its perniciousness, which is that exposure to it is at the root of negative stereotyping and treatment of all people of color,” said Co-Producer Kevin Blackistone, an ESPN panelist and professor of the practice at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, who writes sports commentary for The Washington Post.
Watch the trailer – imaginingtheindianfilm.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/iti_-_feb_2023_trailer_v2-720p.mp4
OPENING – Check local listings for theater running dates in New York City and beyond.
(Mabel Pais writes on Social Issues, The Arts and Entertainment, Health & Wellness, Cuisine and Spirituality.)
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