The Snoqualmie Indian Tribe and Longhouse Media recently partnered for the 2014 SuperFly Filmmaking Experience, which features native stories and young filmmakers and actors aged 13 to 19. The event showcases the young students’ skills, teaches them to collaborate with other artists, and concludes with a screening of the original work at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF). This year’s SuperFly screening took place on Saturday May 31, 2014 at the Harvard Exit Theatre in Seattle.
On Thursday, May 29th, 55 youth from across the country and 30 plus adult filmmakers and mentors arrived in the Snoqualmie Valley to begin the 9th Annual SuperFly Filmmaking Experience event of 2014. Led by Tracy Rector of Longhouse Media, the young filmmakers embarked on a 36-hour journey to produce seven live short films featuring the Snoqualmie Tribe’s traditional lands, culture, and people.
“We were thrilled to be chosen as this year’s host of the SuperFly Filmmaking Experience,” said Lois Sweet Dorman, tribal council member. “The Snoqualmie Tribe’s traditional lands include the Snoqualmie Falls, which provided a stunning focal point in many of this year’s films. It was so fulfilling to see how moved the student filmmakers and their mentors were by the natural beauty of what we call home.”
“SuperFly student filmmakers expressed how at home they felt on the lands of the Snoqualmie people and how welcome the Tribe made them feel,” said Tracy Rector, founder of SuperFly Filmmaking Experience.
Some of this year’s mentors included Sterlin Harjo, Ben Mulinkossen, BC Campbell and Ken White. Two other mentors, Jake Hoyungowa and Deidra Peaches, were the youngest filmmakers to premiere a film at Sundance Film Festival in 2011 with their film, “The Rocket Boy”. Hoyungowa and Peaches first experience SuperFly as students and have returned to the event for multiple years.
SuperFly Filmmaking challenges young filmmakers by condensing the filmmaking process into a tight production schedule with limitations imposed on time, funds, and other resources. The filmmakers share ideas with others from around the country. This year they created seven short collaborative films in just 36 hours. Based on the incredibly short duration of time allotted to the filmmakers and actors, this process can be referred to as “on the fly,” hence the name: Fly Filmmaking.
Each year, a different Pacific Northwest tribe has hosted SuperFly. The goal of SuperFly is to learn and share that learning with others about the host tribe’s culture, people and traditional lands. The completed films like the seven just produced with the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe then debut at the Seattle International Film Festival.
“A number of annual students, mentors, volunteers, and parent volunteers said hands down this was their favorite year at SuperFly,” adds Rector. “Between the natural beauty of the Falls, the majesty of the wildlife, the heartfelt welcome from the Tribe, our SuperFly family was overwhelmed with love for the people, land, and waters of the Snoqualmie Tribal community.”