Indigenous Film
DRUNKTOWN’S FINEST
Wednesday, June 12 at 7:30 pm
Members $12 | Public $17
John Kane, host of WBAI 99.5 FM Let's Talk Native, in person with a Q&A following the film.
Includes reception following the film
Drunktown's Finest is the coming-of-age story of three young Native Americans who seek to find their place in the world and confront the struggle of indigenous people to preserve identity, tradition and pride within a country that has marginalized them.
Filmmaker Sydney Freeland draws on her own life experiences as a trans-woman from a Navajo reservation to interweave a story about three diverse young adults and the challenges faced by America’s indigenous people. Sick Boy (Jeremiah Bitsui) drinks himself into a stupor most nights to avoid the responsibilities of his pregnant wife (Elizabeth Frances) and impending military enlistment; Nizhoni (Morningstar Angeline Wilson) lives a sheltered life outside the reservation with her adopted white parents, but dreams of reuniting with her birth family; and confident trans-woman Felixia (Carmen Moore), a sex worker who dreams of auditioning to be a part of the annual Women of the Navajo calendar. Their stories meld together to create anarrative that humanizes the struggles of indigenous Americans; struggles that have manifested as harmful stereotypes within mainstream American culture. (USA, 2014, 95 Mins., NR, English | Sydney Freeland)