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Spirits for Sale

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Freija:
Some of you already know that I am making a film....and some of you are actually IN the film  ;D...but I just thought I´d make it official in here, since we´re close to having completed it.

We´re making a documentary called Spirits for Sale - because that´s what is happening in Europe and many other places. The message in the film is that Spirits are not for sale. We cover the exploitation of ceremonies and sacred places and we´re also trying to educate non-Natives about how Ndn:s of today live and what issues they/you face. There will be interviews with exploiters and with Ndn:s commenting on the abuse. Since we couldn´t find any fundings, we decided to make the film ourselves. It costs a fortune (still makes me puke thinking of it) but it is done for a good cause. It´ll be okey...somehow... ::)

We filmed in SD last summer and in TX and NM some months ago. Since it is mostly Lakota ceremonies that are being exploited, we focused on letting Lakota Elders and medicine people speak out about the abuse. We are now editing the film and it should open in September, then we´ll try to spread it all over the world. (It will be coming to a cinema near you!!  ;D ;D )

I would like to take this opportunity to officially thank all those wonderful - absolutely wonderful - Native people we have met that have helped us along! Elders/elders, spiritual leaders, medicinepeople, activists, story-tellers, warriors, scholars...WOW! THANK YOU!

I hope it will be a huge success! Once I´ve broken even (If I do  :-\) I will take the profit and go back to all those lovely people that helped us! That is my next dream...to be able to give back....

I also hope this film will start a discussion that spreads like wildfire all over the place, I hope that many followers of frauds will stop and listen. And I hope everyone that is on our side - and there are many of them! - will come forward, having the courage once and for all to say: "This has gone too far, this has to stop!"

Finally - if I hadn´t found NAFPS, this film would never have been made! Thanks to all the great people I have met here who have always supported me, this once so "crazy" dream came true! So a special credit goes to NAFPS!

If you know of filmfestivals or other events over there where we could show our film...give me a shout! Thanks!

Diana:
Hi Freija, good for you! I'm glad someone is  finally stepping up to the plate and knocking it out of the ballpark. Here is a link to NativeVue http://www.nativevue.org/blog/. They specialize in NativeVue Film & Media and always advertise all the Native film festivals. The person who you need to talk to is Carol. Good luck and keep us all apprised when your movie comes out, I for one will would love to go to the premiere.   

Freija:
Thanks, Diana!
I am Swedish, so I am not sure that the Native filmfestivals would admit our film. But no harm in asking, guess there are different rules for different festivals.

We are aiming at having the world premiere at the Nordic Filmfestival in Finland in September. They get thousands of visitors from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. It should be good considering all the abuse over here. Otherwise we´ll just make it a big premiere in Sweden, we´re having one of the Lakota guys in the film coming over to answer questions and explain his view on things.  ;D

Once the film is out, I´ll make a list in here of all the places where it is playing!

A.R.:
No doubt you'll be having good time in your film festival in Finland. 
 
Though I am not a Finn, still, Swedish in Finland, that I know ... have always been treated with politeness and with courteousity, after all a percentage of Finns are Swedes.

But having lived one year in Sweden, (this is many years ago now), I did get a very good "education" about what it is like to live there as a foreigner.    And the Finnish "quest workers" there had fallen into a black hole the depression, alcoholism, domestic violence  .... You know the usual ....
 
Took a ship across from Stockholm to Helsinki on New Years Eve.   At midnight the ship met another ship going the other way.    The ships stopped and were pointing their lights on water, and I thought it was all because of the New Year's celebrations.   A crew member then came to tell me, that somebody had jumped overboard.   He said that nearly every week there was a Finnish suicide, but by that time I only understood it too well, but we didn't talk about those things publicly then ....


Living in Copenhagen, there was this one place where the people from Greenland used to go.    They also had fallen into a black hole of depression, alcoholism .... suicides, violence  .... all that.
 
But what was it now .... I think it was the cause for saving the Guatemalan Mountain people, that was in vogue for the Danes at that time.

You know how these causes that are highly fashionable for a period of time keep on changing, can't really keep track of them.   But I guess we still mustn't talk about the Natives of Greenland.

A.R.

Barnaby_McEwan:
A. R.: please stop gatecrashing threads.

[Later] I've just read this again. A.R., you're skating on very thin ice. Stop making snide accusations. If you think someone here is a hypocrite that is a very serious charge and requires evidence to back it up. I will not tolerate any further sniping so think very carefully before posting in future.

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