Indigenous Animation Movement

The September/October issue of Native Peoples (a magazine of indigenous people http://www.nativepeoples.com/ on news stands now) reports an explosion in animation in Native American culture. Claiming that the Cherokee Nation capitol of Tahlequah, Oklahoma may have more animators per capita than any community in the United States.

This is due, in part, to the American Indian Resource Center (AIRC) and their strong animation program centered in Tahlequah.

There is also an explosion of animation in the Canadian Nations. We had a stop motion series from Canada in the Stop Mo Expo Animation Festival back in April.

A fair amount of the Indigenous Animation seems to be stop motion (yeah!) but there is also 2-D and CGI animation represented in the article by Kkade L. Twist (Cherokee).

The animators, who are starting to have an impact on the animation festival circuit, come from all the nations; Cherokee, Pawnee, Delaware, Kiowa, Plains Cree, Dine, Ponca, and (my own hidden native blood) Ojibway.

A lot of the Native American animation story content is uniquely indigenous in nature, dealing with current problems facing the First American Nations and with the myth and culture of the indigenous poeples that the animators come from.

Native Peoples magazine seems to post there past issue to the Internet so the article should be on the net when the November/December issue is published. http://www.nativepeoples.com/