EPF Media - Moccasins and Microphones: Modern Native Storytelling

MOCCASINS AND MICROPHONES

Moccasins and Microphones: Modern Native Storytelling through Performance Poetry explores the fascinating world of a dynamic team of indigenous youth writers from the Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS) in New Mexico. Led by teacher and poet Timothy P. McLaughlin, the SFIS Spoken Word Program empowers its student members to create and perform original poems centered in Native philosophies. Over an eight-year history, the exquisite artistry of this ever-evolving team has been highly recognized through numerous awards, a bevy of media appearances including in The New York Times and on The PBS News Hour, and performance tours throughout the United States and to the Baltic nations in Eastern Europe. This documentary film journeys with the SFIS Spoken Word Team as the core group (including several graduating twelfth graders) prepares and presents a theater production of their finest poems woven with traditional and contemporary song and dance. The young SFIS poets will enchant your heart and enliven your spirit as they continue the ancient tradition of Native storytelling through the powerful new medium of performance poetry.

THE FILMMAKER

Jason Jaacks is a filmmaker and photographer focused on social and environmental issues. He's crossed the border into Mexico with traditional leaders of the Tohono O'odham tribe, led a source-to-sea expedition down the Elwha River, and searched Mayan archeological sites for carnivorous bats. Jason has produced video for National Geographic, The New York Times, PBS, and Fusion, among others. His photography has been published in High Country News, Bay Nature, Condé Nast Traveller, and Fly Fish Journal and he's collaborated on campaigns for companies like Hagen Dazs, Purina, and Single Thread Farms.

Jason is a National Geographic Explorer and holds a Master of Journalism from the University of California, Berkeley. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Rhode Island.