Big Idea Film List
Let the flicks and films do the teaching! Hosting a movie night at your home or a film screening in your neighborhood can lead to eye-opening discussions.
Turning Land Acknowledgements into Action…In a Good Way
By Dr. Alex Red Corn (Osage Nation), EdD, executive director of the Kansas Association of Native American Education, an assistant professor of educational leadership, and coordinator for Indigenous partnerships in the College of Education at Kansas State University.
American Indian Students Define Success in Their Own Terms
By Darryl Monteau, EdD (Kiowa-Apache-Comanche), Associate Director for Mission Programs and Native Initiatives at the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science.
- "A Walk in My Shoes." As a member of the Osage Nation, Alex Red Corn gew up in two worlds, navigating his wat through educational systems while holding to his culture.
- "Good Morning Indian Country." Every Wednesday morning in March and April, the Lawrence Arts Center broadcasts "morning radio for the reservation." Guest performers, humanities scholars, and culture-bearers will provide insight for in-the-moment topics.
Confronting the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools
By Eric P. Anderson (Citizen Potawatomi Nation), Professor of History in the Indigenous & American Indian Studies Program at Haskell Indian Nations University
- In the White Man’s Image (Director, Christine Lesiak), PBS: American Experience, 1992.
Changing the Way We Talk About the Civil Rights Movement
by Clarence Lang, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Penn State University
It's Time to Change the Way We Talk About Immigrants
by Kandace Creel Falcón, Professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Minnesota State University Moorhead
We Need to Elevate Black Women's Stories
by Donna Rae Pearson, Local History Librarian at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library
- Sister Citizen: Shame Stereotypes and Black Women in America (58:41)
- The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (19:16)
- You Belong to Me: Sex, Race and Murder in the South (2:28)
It's Time for More Representation in STEM
by Sarah Lamm, Colby native and doctoral student in planetary science at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff
- Ed Dwight, First African American Candidate for Space (American Experience, PBS) (1:09)
It's Time to Change the Way We Talk About Poverty
by Jason Wesco, Executive Vice-President of the Community Health Care Center
- The Creek Runs Red
- The Florida Project
- People Like Us: Social Class in America
- Rich Hill
- Winter's Bone
How Should We Honor Someone's Military Experience?
by Tai S. Edwards, Associate Professor of History and Director of the Kansas Studies Institute at Johnson County Community College
- JCCC Vietnam-Era Veterans Panel, part of Humanities Kansas Kansas Stories of the Vietnam War
- Video of JCCC Vietnam Veteran interviews:
Interview with David and Wendy Svajda
Interview with Larry Stanfield
Images from the Mind of a Bi-Racial Black Woman
By Ann Dean
- "The Learning Tree" by Gordon Parks
- "Jean Michel Basquait: The Radiant Child" by Tamra Davis
- "The Last Black Man in San Francisco" by Joe Talbot
- "Loving" by Jeff Nichols
- "Moonlight" by Barry Jenkins
- "Malcolm X" by Spike Lee
It's Time to Tell the Stories of African American Entrepreneurs
by Robert E. Weems, Jr., Willard W. Garvey Distinguished Professor of Business History, Wichita State University
- Boss: The Black Experience in Business, PBS documentary
- “White Ice Is Colder,” YouTube video,
Seeing the World Through the Eyes of Gordon Parks
by Kirk Sharp, Director of the Gordon Parks Museum
- The Learning Tree (1969)
- Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photography and the Emergence of a People (2014)
It’s Time to Recognize the History of Race and Baseball in Kansas: The Good, The Bad, and the Magnificent
By Phil S. Dixon
- Town Teams: Bigger than Baseball. Producer, Mark Honer, Film Ideas Inc., G (General Audience)
- Baseball, A Film by Ken Burns
- Negro Leagues 100th Anniversary video series from the Major League Baseball Network and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
- "A Century of Change: Negro Leagues Centennial Celebration," KCPT Public Television
Coupling Jim Crow and Jane Crow
by Ayesha K. Hardison, Associate Professor of English and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Kansas
- “Jane Crow: The Little Known Story of Pauli Murray”—Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes
It's Time to Expand Our Views on Peacemaking
by Sheryl R. Wilson, director of the Kansas Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution
- Excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Drum Major Instinct” speech
- Amanda Gorman reading "The Hill We Climb"
Finally Breaking Through: The Current State of Indigenous Storytelling
By Rodrick Pocowatchit (Comanche, Pawnee and Shawnee nations), Wichita, Kansas-based filmmaker, graphic designer and writer.
- Reservation Dogs (FX on Hulu)
A half-hour comedy that follows four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma as they steal, rob and save to get to the exotic, mysterious and faraway land of California. - 46th Annual American Indian Film Festival (online, November 5-13, 2021)
The mission of AIFI is to foster understanding and appreciation of the culture, traditions, and issues of contemporary Native Americans. AIFI encourages filmmakers whose work expresses the native voices, viewpoints, and stories historically excluded from mainstream media; develops audiences for their works; and advocates for authentic representations of Indians in the media. - alterNative Film Festival (Nov. 12-14, Mid-America All-Indian Museum, Wichita, KS)
The inaugural all-Indigenous film festival in Wichita will feature films from across the United States, Hawaii, Canada, and Greenland. All events will be free and open to the public. Choctaw filmmaker Mark D. Williams is the featured guest.