Rising Voices/Hothaninpi

FAIN: TD-50484-12

Language Conservancy, Inc. (Bloomington, IN 47404-2008)
Wilhelm Meya (Project Director: January 2012 to April 2014)

Development of a 90-minute documentary film and website that examines Native American language loss and revival.

"Rising Voices/Hothaninpi" is a cross-platform documentary media project on Native American language loss and revival, anchored by a 90-minute film for national broadcast. This proposal seeks support for the development phase of the broadcast film. The film narrative is driven by the Lakota history of resistance to white encroachment; loss of the culture through loss of the buffalo and the language; the fear and admiration of white people; conflict within the Lakota world today as the professional skills of outsiders are seen as necessary to recovering the Lakota language. The full project integrates the film with social media, image and video-sharing, to allow all Native American tribes to talk about their languages-- losing them and bringing them back. All together, the project becomes a national discussion on Native American languages, the continent's unheralded resource of perspectives on the environment, human relationships, politics, history, and spirituality.