Native spirit and the Sun Dance way [video recording]

Named Person: Thomas Yellowtail .

Description: Native Spirit & The Sun Dance Way are two unique, feature-length documentaries contained in a 2-Disc DVD with an additional 90 minutes of rich special features. Native Spirit & The Sun Dance Way are official selections for American Indian Film Festival and the Montreal First People's Festival Native Spirit: As the Plains Indians were hunted down and driven onto government reservations, their spiritual and cultural traditions were threatened with extinction. The American government sought to not only physically contain the Indians, but more importantly, to forcibly destroy their culture and spiritual traditions. The brutal attempt to destroy the Indians centuries old way of life took a terrible toll. Native Spirit movingly tells the history that many Americans would prefer to forget, and poignantly conveys a story many Americans have never heard: the story of the ultimate triumph of the Native Spirit. The Sun Dance Way This is the story of a remarkable preservation of an ancient sacred ceremony. The Sun Dance still remains at the center of today s Plains Indian tribes despite a government bent on its destruction. In this documentary, the ceremony is described in the words of Thomas Yellowtail, a revered Sun Dance Chief of the Crow Indian Tribe for over thirty years. Yellowtail's first person account is brought to life by the narration of internationally known Native Peoples actor, Gordon Tootoosis (Legends of the Fall ). Yellowtail's words provide a first hand account of the symbolism and meaning at the heart of the Sun Dance. Unique photographs and video footage of more than 15 Crow and Shoshone Sun Dances, from as far back as 1903, reveal the mystical beauty of this ancient sacred ceremony. The Sun Dance Way provides a message of inspiration to Native and non-Native people everywhere.

FY2009 / jvsn