The Smithsonian’s Native Cinema Showcase opens online on Friday, November 13, and gives viewers two weeks to watch Indigenous films for free. The National Museum of the American Indian is also holding a free Veterans Day program in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, November 7, four days before the federal holiday. The films are available from home, while the November 7 program takes place at the museum on the National Mall.
Stream Native Cinema Showcase from November 13
The on-demand program opens at 5 p.m. Eastern on November 13 and closes at 5 p.m. Eastern on November 27. That’s 2 p.m. Pacific on both days. November 27 is the Friday after Thanksgiving, so viewers on the West Coast have until midafternoon that day. Both the Smithsonian event listing and GW Today’s November guide identify the showcase as an online program.
The museum describes a lineup that includes documentaries, features, animation and shorts by Indigenous filmmakers from across the Western Hemisphere and Arctic. Use the museum’s showcase page to reach the streaming program. The Smithsonian lists one viewing window for the showcase, with films on demand throughout it.
See the November 7 veterans program in Washington
The museum’s November 2 announcement lists events from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern. Admission is free and the museum says reservations are unnecessary. The day opens in the Potomac Atrium with the Native American Women Warriors presenting the colors. U.S. Army veteran Mitchelene BigMan founded the group in 2010. The members wear jingle dress regalia for the presentation.
At 11 a.m., Acoma Pueblo scholar Christine Sims will discuss the Pueblo men who used the Keres language to relay military information in World War II. The museum names two of the Code Talkers she’ll discuss, Staff Sgt. Paul Histia Sr. of Acoma Pueblo and Joseph R. Day of Laguna Pueblo. The museum is also showing its film Why We Serve at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the Rasmuson Theater. Taking the 1 p.m. screening leaves time to hear the morning talk.
The museum will light the flame at the National Native American Veterans Memorial at 3 p.m. and keep it lit until 5 p.m. The retiring of the colors is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. in the atrium. Veterans can visit the hospitality suite on Level 4 during the program. The memorial, designed by Harvey Pratt of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, stands outside on the museum grounds.
Explore ten decades of Native painting
Visitors to the Washington museum can also see Stretching the Canvas, an ongoing exhibition of more than 50 works by over 40 artists. The show pairs early works such as Tonita Peña’s Buffalo Dance, a tempera and watercolor from about 1939, with pieces such as Dyani White Hawk’s Untitled (Cross), which uses acrylic, glass beads and canvas. The exhibition also includes George Morrison’s 1960 painting No. 2. The Smithsonian’s digital collection holds other works by Morrison, including the 1987 print pictured here.
The exhibition page includes an artwork gallery and links to audio guides in English and Spanish, so there’s something to explore before the film showcase opens. On the gallery page, Peña’s painting and White Hawk’s beadwork are separated by about 75 years. Their materials are visible in the online images and offer two places to begin browsing.
Hear Ho-Chunk food and music traditions on November 21
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History calendar lists a separate program at 1 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, November 21. Chef Elena Terry, founder of Wild Bearies in Wisconsin, will take part in an afternoon devoted to Ho-Chunk food and music. The program is part of a series that combines cooking demonstrations, live music and storytelling. It takes place in the Wallace H. Coulter Performance Plaza on the first floor of the American History museum, a different building on the National Mall from the November 7 program.
