Festival Genius Community

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A HOPI was made for my thesis film project for a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. Its short length is due to the restrictions against photography on the Hopi reservation. This film includes the oldest motion picture footage available from Hopiland. The stills used in the film are authentic historical photographs from the archives of the Southwest Museum. This film developed out on our work in the 1970's with the Committee for Traditional Indian Land and Life (T.I.L.L.) to secure legal help to defend in court the sovereignty of indigenous American tribes. The traditional Hopi elders wanted to publicize their philosophy of peaceful co-existence, and AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A HOPI tries to do that. The word "Hopi" means "peaceful people". AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A HOPI is a documentary short which presents the philosophy of the Hopi through the words of a farmer who still grows corn and lives according to the traditional way of harmony with nature. He tried the way of Bohanna (the European), living in the cities, working in the factories. There he found plenty of hardship but very little peace. The ultimate product of this filmmaking experience is our 49-minute TECHQUA IKACHI (Land and Life): ABORIGINAL WARNING--Education Edition focusing on the prophecy from Hopi and other indigenous peoples that extracting oil or minerals from the Earth will bring disaster. www.geocities.com/alankentgorg.