Mystic Country, Connecticut

February Film Series: The Legacy of Native American Boarding Schools

Saturdays, Feb. 4, 11, 18, & 25, 2 p.m.
This year’s film series features four important, extremely emotional, and hard-hitting films about Native American boarding or residential schools in the United States and Canada during the 19th and 20th centuries. Ages 16 and older. Free with museum admission, free to museum members.

Saturday, Feb. 4, 2 p.m. – In the White Man’s Image

This 1991 film gives viewers an introduction to the Native American boarding schools. The Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania was a boarding school designed to remove Native American children from the influence of their parents and communities. The children suffered epidemics of cholera, influenza, and tuberculosis, as well as abuse, and the cemetery on the school grounds is a painstaking testament to the number of children who died there. (58 min.)

Saturday, Feb. 11, 2 p.m. – Older than America with Georgina Lightning

Georgina Lightning (Cree) made her writing and directing debut with the 2006 Older than America, the story of a woman beset by visions that led her to an abandoned Native American boarding school. This powerful film turns a painful chapter of U.S. history into a compelling, piercing drama reflective of many of the actual atrocities that darkened the doors of Native American boarding schools across North America. Special guest Georgina Lightning talks about directing this film after the viewing. (101 min.)

Saturday, Feb. 18, 2 p.m. – Unseen Tears with Michael Martin

Native American families in western New York continue to feel the impact of the Thomas Indian School and the Mohawk Institute. Survivors speak of traumatic separation from families, abuse, and a systematic assault on their language and culture. Following the film, Michael Martin, Onondaga of the Beaver Clan and one of the film’s producers, discusses it with the audience. (30 min.)

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2 p.m. – Unrepentant with Kevin Annett

Unrepentant documents the abuse in Canada’s church-run Indian residential schools and clergyman Kevin Annett’s efforts to document and make public these crimes. First-hand testimonies from residential school survivors are interwoven with Annett’s own story of how he faced firing, de-frocking, and the loss of his family, reputation, and livelihood as a result of his efforts to help survivors and bring out the truth of the residential schools. Kevin Annett accompanies this film to engage viewers in discussion following the showing. (105 min.)