While there is no shortage of visual media these days as streaming services penetrate our phones, tablets, laptops, and even our TV screens, finding content that challenges the very structure of narrative or documentary filmmaking is often a rarer breed.
Lucky for local fans of documentary filmmaking comes a film from a man with roots in our state who is on the road this fall screening his latest work, "
INAATE/SE/ [it shines a certain way. to a certain place./it flies. falls./]”, to Wealthy Theatre.
The story of "INAATE/SE/ [it shines a certain way. to a certain place./it flies. falls./]" re-imagines the Seven Fires Prophecy, an ancient Ojibway story that is being discussed more and more within contemporary circles. Within this film the structures of time are not subjected to European culture’s presentation, instead the film is a kaleidoscopic experience for the viewer as Khalil blends documentary, narrative, and experimental filmmaking as the linear is disrupted, creating what is best described as a story that crosses from filmmaking to art.
From the film's Vimeo page, "INAATE/SE/” employs "acute geographic specificity, and grand historical scope, the film fixes its lens between the sacred and the profane to pry open the construction of contemporary indigenous identity."
“'INAATE/SE' is a truly unique film that affirmed and disrupted my knowledge of Native Americans,” says Grand Valley State University Professor of Visual Studies and Foundations’ Paul Wittenbraker, “It resonated with me as a settler person who lives in a richly indigenous place.”
This special program, the first for the newly formed Department of Visual and Media Arts at GVSU, will include the screening of "INAATE/SE/” followed by a discussion with local artists Shane McSauby, Kay Mayer, and Krzysztof Lower, who are all part of the curatorial team who have brought this film to our city.
In addition, if you enjoyed the film or just couldn't make Sunday’s screening, Khalil will be at GVSU’s Allendale campus as a part of the university’s Visiting Artist Lecture Series. Check their
Facebook event page for all the details including directions to the lecture.