Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1989


Techqua Ikachi, Land - My Life

Buy Techqua Ikachi, Land - My Life now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




'Techqua Ikachi, Land My Life' is a feature documentary by Swiss/German director Anka Schmid, the Swiss artist Agnes Barmettler and the Hopi Native American James Danaqyumptewa from 1989. The documentary shows the history and life of Native Americans of the Hopi tribe in Arizona, in particular their problems with the American government in their fight for sovereignty. It is being told from the perspective of the Hopi tribe.

Summary



The documentary consists of current and historical shots alike and is being complemented by sketches and drawings of Swiss artist Agnes Barmettler. Explanatory commentary is being omitted deliberately, instead the shots are being strung together to a whole by the narration of eldest of Htevilla, a village in Arizona. The eldest of the village pass on the history of their peoples, talking about the nonviolent resistance against the land expropriation at the beginning of the 20th century and about the American authorities paternalism, due to which the natives traditions and way of life are being suppressed. The images refer to the present day and put the narrative not only into the North American but the global context. The main theme of the film, the slow fading away of a whole culture, is of timeless importance.Summary of 'Techqua Ikachi' on [http://www.swissfilms.ch/en/film_search/filmdetails/-/id_film/2146533919/search/5 Swissfilms]; [http://www.zweitausendeins.de/filmlexikon/?sucheNach=titel&wert=51136 International Film Encyclopedia] and [http://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film304529.html Filmaffinity]

Background



About 1986/87 the then 70 year old Hopi Native American James Danaqyumptewa (alias Jimmy Kootshongsi, 1916-1996) invited the young film student Anka Schmid and the Swiss painter Agnes Barmettler to his Hopi-village in the United States in order for them to document the way of life, legends and traditions of the Hopi tribe. Schmid and Barmettler ended up staying for a whole year in the village of Htevilla in Arizona.

Festivals and awards



'Techqua Ikachi' was in the competition at Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. It won the Cultural Award of the canton Solothurn and the Blue Ribbon Award of the Chicago International Film Festival.

Further festivals

* Dok Leipzig

* Cinma du Rel Paris

* Dokfest Munich

* (former) Los Angeles Filmfest (now Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival)

* Visions du Rel Nyon

* San Francisco International Film Festival[http://history.sffs.org/films/film_details.php?id=4954 'SF International Film Festival']

* Festival dei Popoli Florence

Further information

In 2006 'Techqua Ikachi; Land my Life / Land mein Leben / Terre ma vie' was released in two versions (115 and 102 minutes) on DVD.[http://www.film101.de/224-techqua-ikachi-land-mein-leben www.film101.de]

References




Buy Techqua Ikachi, Land - My Life now from Amazon

<-- Return to movies from 1989



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1094812214.