In this episode, contributing SHADO writers, Samara Almonte and Rachel Edwardson discuss the importance of indigenous storytelling in filmmaking as a tool for cultural preservation and revitalization. Rachel Edwardson is an Iñupiaq/Norwegian/Sami social justice filmmaker and educator from Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska. She is a Producer and Impact Producer on the film In My Blood It Runs directed in collaboration by Maya Newell and produced with Sophie Hyde and Larissa Bahrendt. Alongside film making Rachel has been honored to work in education reform with communities across Alaska and Australia. She works closely with her husband and Human Rights lawyer/filmmaker and educator, David S Vadiveloo, across Australia and Alaska.
Samara Almonte is part of the Michoacán diaspora, raised between the lakes and tierra caliente regions of Michoacán, Mexico and occupied Coast Salish territory or the Pacific Northwest. She identifies as a P’urhepecha descendant on a journey of reconnecting with her ancestors. Samara is the director of Raíces Verdes (Green Roots), a multimedia platform dedicated to archiving and sharing the experiences of Black, Indigenous, People of Color across diasporic experiences reconnecting with their “green roots”.
Resources
In My Blood It Runs: a fight for the revitalisation of First Nation culture and histories
Why are you interviewing my Aapa: filmmaking and empowerment
