Kayenta rounds out centennial year with festival
Navajo Times staff report
KAYENTA, Sept. 2, 2010
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Two things make this year's celebration special: the fact that it's Kayenta's 100th year as a community and the long-awaited presentation of the Kayenta Animal Care Facility, according to Malcolm Benally, the township's public information officer.
Unfortunately, a few last-minute building glitches will postpone the opening of the shelter, but it will serve as an exhibit hall during the festivities and people are welcome to tour the building, he said.
Founded in 2006 by filmmakers Andee and Shonie De La Rosa, the Monument Valley Film Festival is the only festival of its kind on the Navajo Nation, and highlights Native American film as an art form.
A grassroots initiative, it was envisioned as a way to bring Native-made films to the people of the Navajo Nation. Otherwise, authentic distribution and sale of Native made films are very rare on Indian reservations, Benally noted.
Unless Native filmmakers promote their work at the larger film festivals they are invited to attend, they often do not get full recognition they deserve, he said.
"The beauty of the Monument Valley Film Festival is that with an almost 100-percent Native audience, each filmmaker who attends literally gets hometown recognition when they show their work," Benally said.
Meanwhile outside the screening room, five blues bands are scheduled to perform at the festival: the Plateros, Aaron White (Grammy nominee and Native American Music Award winner), Coalition, Chucki Begay and the Mother Earth Blues Band, and Skylar Wolf.
This year's festival also will take place in collaboration with two other major events. The first will be "Rez Dog Biographies," a Steven Sable photo exhibit and fundraiser to be held under the tutelage of Dr. Charlotta Begay at the new Kayenta Animal Care Facility (located near the town's waste transfer station).
The second event will showcase Native artists at the Kayenta Recreation Center. "Art for the People," which debuted during the Fourth of July celebration, will revisit the community, and features gold and silver jewelry, sculpture, paintings, and other media by Native master artists.
"These are special artists who have shown at exclusive places in the states and abroad," explained organization president Baje Whitethorne, president of the nonprofit collective Art for the People Inc. "It's like coming from the Emporium in San Francisco and back to the Navajo Reservation."
As a nod to the animal shelter, the exhibit will feature an art contest on the theme "Rez Dogs." Participants should meet at the recreation center at noon and will have two hours two to create a piece of art. Artists may provide their own materials or use the materials provided.
There will be prizes for first, second and third place.
"I'm more of a horse person than a dog person these days," Whitethorne confessed, "but we definitely want to support what the township is doing and encourage artists of all ages to come and show their stuff."
The film festival is still accepting entries. A submission form can be obtained from the official Web site at www.sheepheadfilms.com. There is no submission fee for films and entry to the festival is free to the public.
"The film fest is a great place to meet new friends, relax and enjoy some really great films! All for free!" said the De La Rosas.
Information: www.sheepheadfilms.com, www.kayentatownship.net/home.html.
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