Surviving Sounds of Haida

Recent Screening

2011-12-12T15:45:00.000-08:00

December 1, 2011 at University of Alaska Southeast (Juneau)

Indianer Inuit

2009-10-29T21:49:00.000-07:00

"Dear Frederick,

Greetings from Germany - It is a pleasure for me to inform you that your short film 'SURVIVING SOUNDS OF HAIDA' has been selected for INDIANER INUIT: Das Nordamerika Film Festival (The North American Native Film Festival) which will be held at Stuttgart` s Treffpunkt Rotebühlplatz (Adult Education Center) from December 10 -13, 2009.

The Annual INDIANER INUIT: Das Nordamerika Film Festival was founded in 2004. It is unique in Europe and will now take place for the 3rd time.

Thank you very much for your support!

Kindest regards,
Gunter Lange
Artistic Director"

INDIANER INUIT: Das Nordamerika Film Festival
www.nordamerika-filmfestival.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
INDIANER INUIT: 3rd NORTH AMERICA NATIVE FILM FESTIVAL
Dec. 10-13, 2009 in Stuttgart, Germany

TREFFPUNKT Rotebühlplatz will serve as venue for films from the perspective of American Indians and Inuit. Visual productions of indigenous filmmakers, directors, actors and screenwriters highlight the diversity of Native cultures and lifestyles. They add a new, unusual and assertive dimension.

With the theme "Generation Pow Wow" the festival 2009 displays films that discuss the intergenerational dialogue. In this process of transmitting knowledge and traditional values elders are of crucial importance. Emphasizing this focus the festival covers a wide range of topics and filmmakers such as the highly respected elderly Inuit Madeline Ivalu, who addresses the challenges of survival in the Arctic - both as director and as actress - or the 16 years old director Anthony Johnson, Navajo, who in his film is dealing with the fears of a Native child.

Thus the documentaries, The North American Native Film Festival is unique in Europe. Stuttgart's feature films, short films and video clips represent the multilayered reality of the indigenous population in North America. Out of 150 films submitted to the festival, the 40 most striking productions have been chosen to be shown to the public in Stuttgart.

The film festival is a result of the cooperation between professional and experienced partners: Volkshochschule Stuttgart (Adult Education Center), Linden-Museum Stuttgart (State Museum of Ethnology), German-American Center/James-F.-Byrnes Institute, and, as transatlantic partners, the renowned San Francisco American Indian Film Institute and Festival as well as the Dreamspeakers International Indigenous Film Festival in Edmonton, Canada.

For many years the film festival's artistic director Gunter Lange (Media Arts Cultural Events) has been accepted as the first non-Native member of the festival team of the San Francisco American Indian Film Institute. Owing to his long standing and trustful relations with aboriginal filmmakers, numerous award winning films and premieres can be presented, next to a number of rare productions hardly ever shown in Europe.

Spanish Students View SSoH

2009-09-03T21:10:00.001-07:00

A Spanish teacher at Begich Middle School in Anchorage, Debra Abshier, recently showed SURVIVING SOUNDS OF HAIDA to her class. Debra gave this comment:

"I loved your film, and shared it with my 8th grade Spanish students. Your work facilitated a dialogue about how learning Spanish in school could some day make it easier to learn another language. The kids talked about how their parents and grandparents speak languages other than English, and how great it would be if they could continue that language tradition in their families. I think your film really opened their eyes to the possibility of being multi-lingual. Thanks for doing such beautiful and important work."

Debra added: "Since moving to Alaska I have become more and more aware of the languages being lost. For me, that is like the extinction of a species. Anything we can do to increase awareness, we should do."

I "met" Debra via the Language Acquisition Group of the Alaska Educational Innovations Network. The group meets online every other week discussing issues of language acquisition and language education. Haw'aa, Debra!

Radio Interview

2009-08-05T15:33:00.000-07:00

Jay Marble of Ketchikan's KRBD 105.3 FM interviewed me from inside the Chief Son-i-Hat Whale House in Kasaan. LISTEN HERE

Best Documentary!

2009-03-15T11:24:00.001-07:00

Announced Today: SURVIVING SOUNDS OF HAIDA wins The 2008 Indie Short Film Competition Documentary Category!

Language Summit

2009-03-08T00:02:00.000-08:00

At the Southeast Alaska Native Language Summit, I got to show SURVIVING SOUNDS OF HAIDA (SSH) as part of the first day's regular agenda. And they liked it. :]

Held at the Cape Fox Lodge in Ketchikan, the Summit brings together scholars, experts, and enthusiasts of the Haida, Tlingit, and Tshimshian languages.

Haw'aa to Ketchikan Indian Community and Cape Fox Heritage Foundation for sponsoring this great event. In particular, Cara Wallace, for her help in getting SSH on the agenda and on the screen.

Rebecca Leach, who edited SSH, and I shot video of the sessions and will do so again tomorrow. We will produce a short of the Summit.

It's been great, too, meeting those who I have yet to work with, who seem to be thinking along the lines I have been. Hopefully, after the Summit, we can do some additional recording before I leave town.

Indie Short Film Finalist!

2009-02-28T17:50:00.000-08:00

SURVIVING SOUNDS OF HAIDA has been named a finalist in The 2nd Annual Indie Short Film Competition. Winners will be named March 15th, so stay tuned!

3rd Place

2009-02-14T14:48:00.000-08:00

The mailman brought a surprise today. I did not know anything was coming--this was a medium-sized parcel--but saw the box had a return address from "ANTV". Ah, Alaska Native TV...but what was it?

Well, inside, there was a certificate "in recognition of film making excellence" for 3rd Place in the category of Documentary, Traditional Alaska Native Culture. And, a camera!!

Last fall, I entered SURVIVING SOUNDS OF HAIDA in the Alaska Native Media 2008 Statewide Video Competition. When SSH was added to the www.alaskanativetv.com website back in October 2008, I thought that was that. Happily--wrong!

THANK YOU, Alaska Native Media and Alaska Native TV!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sterlin Harjo

2009-01-21T20:29:00.000-08:00

In between films and other events at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, I saw Sterlin Harjo (director, BARKING WATER) walking up Main Street in Park City, Utah. So, I got him into this shot with that great sculpture at Sundance House.

Native Forum

2009-01-19T19:14:00.000-08:00

I attended the NATIVE FORUM BRUNCH at Sundance for the second year in a row. Held at MUSTANG again, many people from last year attended as well. Once again, I spoke with Bird Runningwater and Owl Johnson. Mr. Runningwater is the Associate Director of Native American and Indigenous Initiatives at Sundance.

I saw Evan Adams of SMOKE SIGNALS there and got a chance to meet and talk with him and told him about SURVIVING SOUNDS OF HAIDA (SSH). Of all things, he knows some Haida filmmakers in Canada. Small world!

Some others from last year included John Haworth and Elizabeth Weatherford of the National Museum of the American Indian. Last year, we sat at the same table. I got to talk with them both for a good while. Hopefully, I will get to meet with them back in NYC. (this year, I sat with two very nice women, Sundance Staff from Budgeting, go figure!)

Another attendee I recognized from last year, Karen, remembered me, too, from 2008. She started a film festival in Santa Fe, New Mexico but I still can't remember her last name--see what happens when you don't have your card? (she ran out) I gave her a DVD of SSH.

I saw Sterlin Harjo (director, BARKING WATER) walking around with a plate of food but he wouldn't sit at my table. "Looking for my actor," he said. Later, I talked with his lead actor, Richard Ray Whitman, who was also in WOUNDED KNEE. Too much! Of course, I gave him my card. Everybody sure is nice at Sundance.

1,700 Views

2009-01-14T23:28:00.000-08:00

SURVIVING SOUNDS OF HAIDA has received 1,700 views, since being added to YouTube.

What's New

2008-11-04T10:15:00.000-08:00

SURVIVING SOUNDS OF HAIDA is now featured on a page of the KAVILCO (Kasaan Village Corporation) website. Their "What's New" page mentions SSH getting added to AlaskaNativeTV.com's site.

The "What's New" page also contains some short audio clips of Haida words spoken by elders from the documentary.

Alaska Native TV

2008-10-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

AlaskaNativeTV.com has included SURVIVING SOUNDS OF HAIDA in its "Social Life" category. The Alaska Native Media Company is a non-profit organization that was formed in 2007, with the mission of creating and supporting an electronically networked Alaska Native community. ANTV will provide a medium to preserve and share Alaska Native cultural histories and traditions.

The Goals of the Alaska Native Media Company:

To build a multi-media company by and principally for Alaska Natives, delivering news, cultural features and public affairs programming via web cast and broadcast/cable/satellite TV.

To engage, inform and inspire Alaska Natives and the non-native public in Native news, culture, arts, language, traditions and issues.

To create employment though training and internship opportunities in journalism, videography, internet content creation and electronic editing.

To serve as the catalyst and statewide leader in organizing, recording and archiving Native oral histories while paying special attention to copyright and intellectual property rights.

SSH on YouTube

2008-03-04T12:34:00.000-08:00

I put SURVIVING SOUNDS OF HAIDA on YouTube so that anyone interested might find it and enjoy.

University Screening

2007-11-27T20:00:00.000-08:00

Rebecca and I showed SURVIVING SOUNDS OF HAIDA to a class at the University of Southeast Ketchikan. Professor of Anthropology/Sociology Priscilla Schulte and her Alaska Native Culture students enjoyed the program.

The regularly scheduled Guest Speakers were late, so Professor Schulte let us also show the DVD of Erma Lawrence, 95, counting to 10 in Haida.

Annual Meeting

2007-11-04T12:34:00.000-08:00

I showed SURVIVING SOUNDS OF HAIDA (SSH) at the Cape Fox Lodge in Ketchikan to KAVILCO shareholders, Kasaan descendants, and interested individuals at the KAVILCO Annual Meeting. All went well and the short documentary was well received.

Special Thanks to Rebecca Eisenhower Leach, the editor of SSH. A true godsend, without her help, this documentary would not have happened.

At the Fundraising Auction after the Annual Dinner, I offered to give away the DVD shown earlier. Everyone liked that idea. A relative of one of the elders in the movie won.

About Me

2007-11-03T11:33:00.000-07:00

I am an Alaska Native (Haida) born in Ketchikan, Alaska and have lived in New York City since 1994, where I have worked in the television and photography industries. My interest in documenting and learning the Haida language (Xaad kil) comes from my family background.

In Alaska, the Haida (Xaadas) live in the villages of Hydaburg and Kasaan on Prince of Wales Island. The elders seen and heard in this documentary come from Kasaan. My father and his family grew up there, too. My great-grandfather was born in Karta Bay (near Kasaan), though the permanent village was Gasa'aan, what is now considered "Old Kasaan".

Frederick Otilius Olsen, Jr.
(contact me via email: otilius@aol.com)

Disclaimer: This site remains a labor of love and has no paid advertising. Should this site accept forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, and other forms of compensation, notice shall be made.

Surviving Sounds of Haida

2007-11-02T22:00:00.000-07:00

The Haida language is spoken by only a few dozen speakers worldwide, the most fluent of these are all over 80 years old.

Each Haida speaker in SURVIVING SOUNDS OF HAIDA, a short documentary, comes from Kasaan-- the northernmost of the Haida villages in southeast Alaska, about 30 miles northwest of Ketchikan.

Several Haida elders speak words and phrases of this endangered language. Subjects range from boarding school days to foods to general conversation. At the end, we see Erma Lawrence, who is 95 and the most fluent from Kasaan, sing 'HOW GREAT THOU ART' in Haida.

For 8 minutes, Kasaan Haida elders offer their surviving sounds of Haida.