Restoring Néške'emāne - Native Spotlight Series

Native Spotlight series sponsored by the Flint Family Foundation returns with a FREE event on Sat 11/12, 1:00p reception and 2:00p films. All tickets are first-come, first-served in person at the box office.

Award-winning filmmaker Loren Waters will be in attendance with her new short film “Restoring Néške'emāne” followed by a Q&A and feature documentary “Dawnland.” The films and discussion focus on the environmental and cultural damage done by the removal of Indigenous children from their families to boarding schools through the 1980s. Learn about environmental efforts to reclaim the school grounds, and honor the lives of those forced to attend the school by hearing stories of community healing.

The reception at 1:00p will feature light bites from Rind Artisan Cheese Boards.

Since the 19th century, Native American children were sent to boarding schools designed to “Kill the Indian… Save the Man,” destroying Tribal languages, cultural values, practices, and traditions through assimilation. In Oklahoma, generations of Native Americans were educated through the Concho Indian School from 1871 to 1984. The abandoned school buildings have remained for 40 years, riddled with toxins that have leached into the community. “Restoring Néške'emāne” follows environmentalist Damon Dunbar who has a dream of restoring the land, preserving tribal history, and honoring the attendees of the Concho Indian School in order to speak truth to history.

Following the film Waters will take part in a Q&A moderated by Taylor Hensel (Oklahoma-based director, producer, and writer and citizen of the Cherokee Nation). After the Q&A, attendees can learn more with the documentary “Dawnland.” The feature-length film tells the stories of the children and explores the first official “truth and reconciliation commission” in the United States as it grapples difficult truths, redefines reconciliation, and charts a new course for state and tribal relations.