Melody Gilbert
We are happy to announce that Stories I Didn’t Know will show on the PBS WORLD Channel during November 1-12, throughout the U.S. Our film will be on in 71% of tv households ! To check the airing date and time please check your local listing using the:
OR
or simply go to our Screenings page and use the station finder.
We are going to Bulgaria! Stories I Didn’t Know will screen at Sofia DocuMental Film Festival on September 8, 4pm at the Czech Center in Sofia. Our film is part of a small retrospective of our co-director and producer Melody Gilbert who is teaching a workshop at the festival and showing her latest films.
She will be there in person to answer questions and meet the Bulgarian audience!
We’ve released Stories I Didn’t Know during a pandemic and we’ve never had the chance since then to get together the cast and crew to celebrate the successes of our film. We’ve seen each other plenty online but not enough in person.
Last Sunday, we finally managed to gather together most of the crew and cast for a small outdoor party. Some managed to join us virtually, some couldn’t make it but we were happy to have the chance to see and hang out with everyone!
We are thrilled to announce that now you can bring our documentary to your community! You can host a screening of Stories I Didn’t Know at your campus, theater, organization, or community venue. Also, you can book the co-directors Rita Davern and Melody Gilbert at your event.
We can wait to connect with you and your communties!
On Monday May 3rd, Stories I Didn’t Know co-directors, Rita Davern & Melody Gilbert, Dakota educator Ramona Kitto Stately and Dakota artist Reuben Kitto Stately, who both feature in the film, were on a panel called “Reckoning with Two Paths: Histories and Futures in Mni Sota Makoce” alongside Minnesota filmmaker Keri Pickett (First Daughter and the Black Snake) at Carleton College. The Carleton Community had the chance to stream both films for free before the discussion.
“The ‘Prophecy of the 7th Fire’ says a ‘black snake’ will bring destruction to the earth. We will have a choice of two paths. One is scorched, and one is green.” So begins the story of environmentalist and Ojibwe White Earth Community leader Winona LaDuke’s fight against the Embridge Pipeline 3 Project in northern Minnesota chronicled by director Keri Pickett in the documentary First Daughter and the Black Snake. In LaDuke’s activism we see not only see how to stop and choose a different path but also to reclaim from the snake what has been lost to the fire. The peoples of Minnesota have followed the two paths with their contesting visions of life, land, and livelihood for generations. In a personal narrative, Stories I Didn’t Know, directed by Rita Davern and Melody Gilbert, Rita faces the consequences of her ancestors’ choices in settling on land taken from Dakota communities who had lived for generations on lands at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. As she researches methods of legal restitution, Rita meets activist and Bdote Educator Ramona Kitto Stately and musician Reuben Kitto Stately, from whom we learn the effects of the westward expansion through on the land on which we stand. ”
This event was sponsored by Center for Community and Civic Engagement, The Dean of Students, The Dean of the College, The Department of Political Science, The Department of History, American Studies, Environment Technology and Science, The Public Policy Program
We are happy to announce that Stories I Didn’t Know will screen at the 2021 Alexander Valley Film Festival between April 23 and May 2. The festival will take place online and if you wish to learn more about it, buy a ticket or a pass for the festival click HERE.
Note: Ticket and pass holders will have access to the panel discussion: “Amplifying Indigenous Stories” on Monday, April 26th at 6PM featuring the filmmakers and subjects of all three films.
Sunday, March 28 Stories I Didn’t Know co-directors Rita Davern & Melody Gilbert, Ramona Kitto Stately, Dakota educator & Reuben Kitto Stately, Dakota artist who are both featured in the documentary, participated in a discussion about the film and the many benefits of story sharing.
Thank you to everyone who attended the event and shared their thoughts about our film, participated in group discussion and sent lovely messages afterwards. We hope the film and the event has made you learn more about yourself and maybe even encouraged you to further explore or better understand a story in your family’s history.
If you attended the event and haven't yet filled in the feedback form, you can do so here: https://bit.ly/3fDDGKZ
A big thank you to Minnesota Humanities Center, TPT - Twin Cities PBS & Moving Lives Minnesota for organizing and moderating the event !
We can finally share with you a secret we’ve been keeping for awhile! STORIES I DIDN’T KNOW will air on TWIN CITIES PBS - TPT on
Monday, March 22 at 9 pm on TPT 2
Sunday, March 28 at 4 pm on TPT 2
On March 28 right after the film (5pm CST) co-directors Rita Davern and Melody Gilbert, together with Dakota educator Ramona Kitto Stately will discuss the film and the ways one can create empathy and understanding through story sharing.
To RSVP for the discussion event on March 28, click the button bellow:
More news about other broadcasts around PBS stations around the country very soon. Stay tuned!
Stories I Didn't Know is screening on the West Coast at San Francisco IndieFest between February 4 and February 21, 2021! Don’t forget to check out the Q&A and the short film “Hope's Home” by Yue Li screening alongside our film.
Tickets available here: https://bit.ly/SF-Indie-Fest-Tickets
We were very happy to have Stories I Didn’t Know screen this month at Lake County Film Festival. Watch below the lovely Q&A we had at the festival together with the director of the fest Nat Dykeman and Greg Allen, director of “Reparations” short film that accompanied the screening of Stories I Didn’t Know at Lake County Film Festival.
Cualorus Film Festival shares early films for 26th annual festival and Stories I Didn’t Know is one of the documentaries announced!
Events for the 26th annual festival will take place online and at the Curbside Cinema drive-in
November 11 - 25 (Wilmington, NC). More details about our screening at Cucalorus coming soon!
Stories I Didn’t Know was selected to screen at Moldox International Documentary Film Festival for Social Change on September 10 in the small country of Moldova in Eastern Europe. We are excited to bring the film to this corner of the world !
We are thrilled to be one of the 10 films showing at the BEST OF FEST - MSPIFF 39 Redefined.
If you missed our documentary during the festival’s virtual edition, you have the chance to watch it again starting Thursday, June 25. You will have 24 hours to finish watching the movie once you start viewing and must start watching the film by Sunday, June 28 at 11:59 pm in order to finish before the end of the screening engagement. Virtual seats are limited, so reserve a ticket down below:
Screenshot from the MSP Film Society website
We’ve had a fantastic premiere at Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival. Stories I Didn’t Know sold out TWICE and so many people have reached out to us with lovely messages of support and post screening reactions. Our 45 minutes Q&A on Sunday, May 17 was attended by approximately 170 viewers and we’ve received so many questions and thoughtful messages that we are still going through them. If you missed our Q&A you can still watch it below:
LIVE Q&A with directors Rita Davern and Melody Gilbert and film’s subjects Ramona Kitto Stately & Reuben Kitto Stately. Q&A was moderated by Craig Rice, MSPIFF programmer.
“It is beautiful and powerful, and so vulnerable and the stuff that healing is made of.”
“This was a beautiful and powerful film. The compassion of Rita and Ramona Kitto Stately as they shared and heard each other’s stories, and Rita’s willingness to recognize her priveledge and learn more by reaching out to others was amazing. It provides a path for all of us.”
“A powerful film about history, generational trauma, and the importance of actions to extend and recieve healing.”
On the closing day of the festival, May 23rd we were ranked number 1 for Audience Award at MSPIFF39! The final votes are still being tallied but we will let you know if we won as soon as we hear ! Such an honor to be #1 best documentary only after a week of voting. Follow us on our social media channels for more news. (Facebook Twitter and Instagram ).
Listen to the interview the directors of the film gave One Week Only, a podcast about independent & international cinema.
Screenshot: LIVE Q&A with directors Rita Davern and Melody Gilbert and film’s subjects Ramona Kitto Stately & Reuben Kitto Stately. Q&A was moderated by Craig Rice, MSPIFF programmer.
We are looking forward to share our film with you and have a conversation afterwards about it.
You are now able to purchase tickets to our screening at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival that will will be available from Sunday, May 17 2PM until Saturday, May 23 11:59PM.
Purchase tickets here:
* Only people with a MN billing address are able to purchase tickets and watch the film at this time
Also, you can now register for the free LIVE Q&A with directors Rita Davern and Melody Gilbert and the film’s subjects that will take place on Sunday, May 17 5PM via Zoom.
