BISMARCK, N.D.— A film festival on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation aims to bolster the anti-pipeline movement that blossomed there last year while also fostering connections between the Native American community and the film industry.
The inaugural Standing Rock Nation Film and Music Festival, which runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the tribal casino near Fort Yates, will showcase the talent of Native American filmmakers and musicians. It also features films about American Indians and provides a venue for those who opposed the $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline to reminisce.
“It was the most amazing coming together of people from all over the country, all over the world,” said festival producer Tricia van Klaveren, an independent filmmaker in San Francisco who spent time in a protest camp in southern North Dakota that held hundreds and sometimes thousands of people between August and February.
“Standing Rock represents, people really came together and united. History was created.”
People in the camp dubbed themselves “water protectors,” a reference to the fear that oil and gas pipelines threaten water sources. They couldn’t stop Dakota Access – the line to move North Dakota oil to a distribution point in Illinois is set to go into commercial service on Thursday – but the movement has spread to other pipeline projects around the country.
Organizers hope some people will make a return trip for the festival, though the casino has a capacity of only 1,000 people.
Many events and panels will be live-streamed online.
– From news service reports
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