Recommended Articles Vol. 4

You probably know by now that we are big fans of such news!

“Native American Tribe in Maine Gets Back Sacred Island Taken 160 Years Ago"

“The Passamaquoddy Tribe reacquired 140 acres of their ancestral territory, thanks to help from The Nature Conservancy which granted them funds to purchase Pine Island, known to them as Kuwesuwi Monihq.”

— Good News Network

““The Tribe felt this land loss was an injustice,” explains Indian Township’s Chief William Nicholas. Today with the island’s return, he continues, “There is no doubt that the Ancestors are jumping all over the place over there.””

— Good News Network

Host a STORIES I DIDN'T KNOW community screening!

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!

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. ”

— CCCE Events

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

Amplifying Indigenous Voices Panel at #AVFF2021

On Monday, April 26, 2021 co-director Rita Davern, Dakota educator Ramona Kitto Stately and Dakota artist Reuben Kitto Stately participated in a panel organised by Alexander Valley Film Society alongside filmmaker Shane Anderson ( Guardians of the River) and Sammy Gensaw, Yurok Native and Director of Ancestral Guard (Guardians of the River), filmmaker Daniel Byers (Aguilucho: Dance of the Harpy Eagle) and José De Jesús Vargas González, Co-Director Panama Programs - The Peregrine Fund (Aguilucho: Dance of the Harpy Eagle).

The AMPLIFYING INDIGENOUS VOICES panelist had a thoughtful conversation around how to create more seats at the table for indigenous folx to tell their own stories and what can they as creators and allies do when funding and access to resources can be an issue.

Watch the full conversation down below.

Credit: Alexander Valley Film Society

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.

Stories I Didn't Know:Filmmaker Discussion

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 !

TWIN CITIES PBS -TPT BROADCAST

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!

Twin Cities PBS - TPT

February News: Minnesota returns 114 acres to Lower Sioux Indian Community

We are unbelievably happy to share this news with you: the Lower Sioux Indian Community got its ancestral land back from Minnesota, Minnesota Historical Society.

“In an emotional ceremony this month, the Minnesota Historical Society officially returned 114 acres along the Minnesota River bluffs to the Lower Sioux Indian Community.

The land transfer, approved by the Legislature in 2017, became official Feb. 12, returning about half of the southern Minnesota property around the nonprofit’s historic site to the tribe.”

— Kelly Smith, Star Tribune

“This is a victory for the Lower Sioux Community ... it’s more than symbolic, it’s actionable,” said Kate Beane, director of Native American Initiatives at the Historical Society and a member of the Flandreau Santee Sioux in South Dakota. “What this specific incidence highlights is that there are actionable things that some agencies and organizations can do to help support the healing.”

— Kelly Smith, Star Tribune

Official Selection: Beloit International Film Festival

After screening at BIFF Year ‘Round film series in November 2020, we have been invited to be part of the Beloit International Film Festival (February 19 - February 28, 2021) official program that kicks off on Friday, February 19.

We are very happy to be an official documentary program selection at BIFF and we can’t wait to share the film with everyone!

Film tickets go on sale Friday, February 19

Official Selection: San Francisco Independent Film Festival

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

December news!

Nearly 12,000 acres to be returned to Leech Lake Band

“CASS LAKE, Minn. (AP) - A bill passed by Congress and headed to President Donald Trump’s desk will return nearly 12,000 acres of land in the Chippewa National Forest to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

The government illegally seized the land from the tribe more than 70 years ago.”

— The Washington Times

Nez Perce Tribe reclaims 148 acres of ancestral land in Eastern Oregon

“The Nez Perce Tribe is reclaiming an ancestral village site in the Eastern Oregon town of Joseph more than a century after being pushed out the area.

This month, the tribe purchased 148 acres of an area known as “the place of boulders,” or Am’sáaxpa.”

— OPB.org (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

Exclusive Virtual Screening & Conversation

We have so many interesting events to share that will take place during the first half of next year. The first one is a special screening of “Stories I Didn’t Know” at Minnesota Humanities Center followed by a community conversation with our director Rita Davern, educator Ramona Kitto Stately, and artist Reuben Kitto Stately.

Join us and Minnesota Humanities Center on January 14 between 6:30pm and 8:30pm for a lively discussion on “ how one person’s discovery of truth can create a significant positive impact on a personal and statewide level. Explore with us the transgressions made by the federal government and non-Native leaders and how together we can confront current systemic failures as we work to create a more just Minnesota.”

Meet Ramona Kitto Stately

For those who have seen our documentary film, Stories I Didn’t Know, you may wonder, “Who is Ramona Kitto Stately, and what is she up to these days as an educator and leader?”

Below find Ramona’s profile, along with part 1 of a recent interview with Ramona and Rita about Stories I Didn’t Know. The interview comes from Inclusivi-Tee – a company committed to “co-creating a sustainable, kind, and equitable future through the sale of earth-friendly books and fashion, the organization of workshops and podcasts, and participation in strategic partnerships.”

In this episode of Inclusivi-TALKS, Lori is joined by co-host Shannon Crossbear, filmmaker Rita Davern, and Ramona Kitto Stately, We Are Still Here Minnesota...

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Ramona Kitto Stately is an enrolled member of the Santee Sioux Dakota Nation. She has a BA in Dakota Art and Culture, and a Masters of Education with an emphasis on Teacher leadership from Augsburg University. After 15 years teaching Indian Education in Minnesota, she is now Project Director for the We Are Still Here Minnesota, creating action for narrative change. Ramona is the mother of two children, an accomplished beadwork artist with moccasins on display in the Science Museum of Minnesota, a part of the scholars' team with of the Minnesota Humanities Center’s for Learning from Place: Bdote and has served as the Chairperson of the Minnesota Indian Education Association since 2016.

Ramona Kitto Stately - Santee Sioux Nation
Project Director - We Are Still Here Minnesota (WASH-MN)
MA Education & Teacher Leadership
ramonastately@gmail.com / (651) 263-0942

"Fostering cultural, social, and policy change by empowering Native Americans to counter discrimination, invisibility, and the dominant narratives that limit Native opportunity, access to justice, health and self-determination."

Ramona Kitto Stately (Still from Stories I Didn’t Know)

Us at Cucalorus Film Festival

Such a pity that we couldn’t attend Cucalorus Film Festival in person this year but nonetheless we had a wonderful time being part of it virtually! Thank you Cucalorus!

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Stories I Didn't Know at Lake County Film Festival

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.