Ramona, Rita and Ramona's mum (born in Ireland), a nephew, and a friend spent a week together in April near Drogheda, just north of Dublin. We explored a 5200-year-old passage tomb, Newgrange, where the sun shines into a burial chamber on the winter solstice. We enjoyed the Irish countryside, the people, Dublin and some delicious food! There is laughter galore when 3 generations, and a friend, travel together.
Stories I Didn't Know
Stories I Didn't Know in NYC /
Last month, on April 7th, director Rita Davern and Ramona Kitto Stately, Dakota Educator held a LIVE virtual Q&A with 300 NYC middle and high school students. They watched Stories I Didn’t Know through a program called Movies That Matter put on by the Jewish Museum of NYC. The program invites middle and high school students to view award-winning documentaries that examine current social issues such as representation and identity, immigration, and civil rights followed by Q&A sessions with filmmakers and Stories I Didn’t Know was one of those documentaries!
CreatEVE Event: Film Screening and Discussion, ‘Stories I Didn’t Know’ /
In recognition of National Women’s History Month in March, The Grand Center for Arts & Culture (New Ulm, MN) in cooperation with the New Ulm Film Society, will be screening our documentary, ‘Stories I Didn’t Know’ on Thursday, March 31 at 7pm.
Both director and producer Rita Davern and Dakota Educator Ramona Kitto Stately will be at the film screening and will hold a Q&A session following the film! This event is FREE and all are welcome.
Check out the article about us in The Journal.
Bringing Stories I Didn't Know to Louisiana /
At the beginning of March we were invited to screen Stories I Didn’t Know to the Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSULA) - Department of New Media, Journalism, & Communications Arts students. Director Rita Davern, co-director Melody Gilbert, Dakota Educator, Ramona Kitto Stately and Dakota artist Reuben Kitto Stately were present for the Q&A. The screening was possible thanks to the Department of New Media Journalism and Communication Arts at NSULA in collaboration with The History We Stand On series organized by the Ethnic Studies and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion. Read more about the screening below:
Photo by Emily Zering (Purple Media Network)
Must Listen: Reuben Kitto Stately’s Gift for Reclaiming Dakota Roots through Language and Music /
Reuben Kitto Stately, who features in our documentary, is a Dakota musician and recording artist. He recently sat down with Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo for Native Lights, a weekly, half-hour radio program.
In the interview, Rueben shares “ how he discovered his passion for learning Dakhóta language, how he has dedicated himself to being a life-long learner, as his gift to share. He believes language is the key to reclaiming Indigenous culture, art, and identity. Reuben also traces his love of music back to falling asleep to drums on the Pow Wow trail as a baby. And he explains how Indigenous musicians inspired him to pursue music, tell his own authentic stories, find his own creative voice.” - Minnesota Native News
Screening in Bulgaria at Sofia DocuMental /
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!
Webinar: "Reckoning with Two Paths: Histories and Futures in Mni Sota Makoce" - Center for Community and Civic Engagement at Carleton College /
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
Official Selection: Alexander Valley Film Festival /
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.
