Official Selection: Mumbai International Film Festival

Official Selection: Columbus International Film & Video Festival

Official Selection: NewBeijing International Film Festival

Official Selection: GreenReel Environmental Film Festival

Official Selection: Chashama Film Festival

Official Selection: Moondance International Film Festival

NEPTUNE AWARD

TECHQUA IKACHI is available on DVD: http://www.indieflix.com or http://www.amazon.com.

Part One: history documentary AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A HOPI (10 minutes)

In AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A HOPI, a Hopi farmer tells of his travels from reservation to government school to hard times to war and back home to appreciation of traditional life close to nature. The philosophy calls on people to follow the natural way.

Part Two: prophecy docudrama EARTH SPIRIT (33 minutes)

The prophecy of the Hopi, the Dineh, and others forsees that exploitation of the earth will bring humanity to doom. Worldwide protests against mining and drilling on lands of indigenous peoples go unreported in America. We are focused with Al Gore on our own risks because our environment is being polluted, threatening our health and well-being–but few of us concern ourselves with the health or well-being of those suffering right this moment at the sources of our energy and metals. But with global warming, ultimately we all go down together.

The feature-length docudrama EARTH SPIRIT (83 minutes) received the Neptune Award at the Moondance International Film Festival:

http://earthspiritmovie.wordpress.com

Among other sites of recent protest demonstrations are Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, Florida, the Dakotas, Alaska, Canada, Burma, Columbia,, Indonesia, Tibet, the Arctic, Mexico, Madagascar, the Philippines, Russia, Chile, Brazil, Guatemala, Australia, Thailand, India, and thousands of demonstrations in China. Many others are not reported. Civil war over oil has broken out in Sudan, Nigeria, and Pakistan, mass murder in Ethiopa. More than five million are dead in the Congo from wars to take over the mining of metals. For detailed news reports from many of these scenes of conflict, please refer to the url list of web publications on other links on this website.

ORGANIZATIONS

There is no organizational link between these peoples. What they have in common is the despoiling of their lands for the profit of others. Some international and grassroots organizations are concerned, and here is a list of some websites (Please copy and paste in your browser bar, as we are not affiliated or linked to any of these organizations):

http://www.thehopiway.com

http://www.blackmesais.org

http://www.wsdp.org

http://www.earthfirst.org

http://www.greenpeace.org

http://www.unpo.org

http://www.treatycouncil.org.

http://www.thehopiway.com/content/messages/techqua/techqua_ikachi.html

The Story behind the films AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A HOPI and EARTH SPIRIT

In the late 1960s veterans of the civil rights movement organized the Committee for Traditional Indian Land and Life in Los Angeles with the purpose of aiding American Indian peoples struggling for self-determination. One conflict continuing to this day is the resistance in northern Arizona by Hopi and Dineh traditionals against mining of coal on their sacred Black Mesa. he center of this opposition was and is the traditional Hopi village of Hotevilla, founded in 1906 after a clash between Hopi traditionals and those “progressives” who decided to give up their traditions, convert to Christianity, and seek the material benefits of Western technology and industry. The traditionals were obliged to separate to preserve the old ways. Many indigenous peoples believe taking oil and minerals is a transgression on Mother Earth. This scene of confrontation was a moment of truth for those in the civil rights movement. It was also the source of the idea for the film EARTH SPIRIT. To capitalist and communist alike, belief in the value of material progress had always been fundamental.

Why would anyone resist progress How could anyone criticize progress? In 1970 the federal government brought in contractors to provide the first electric power to the village of Hotevilla. Power poles were trucked in, and heavy equipment arrived to clear the way for the installation. At this point a group of Hopi elders arrived on the scene to block the work. These old men lay down in the path of the bulldozers, ready to sacrifice their lives if necessary to prevent electric power from coming to their village. One ninety-year-old elder was injured and declined and passed away not long after.

What concerned the Hopi elders was the price to be paid.. In the traditional economy there was no money because it was not needed. Now the Hopi must find ways to get money. There are few jobs on the reservation other than working for the government or working for corporations extracting coal, oil, and uranium out of the land. The only source of money for many is to go on welfare.

There would also be a price more costly than mere money. Like many indigenous peoples, the Hopi believe extractions from Mother Earth will lead to disaster. Their prophecy, like many others, foretells doom for those who forsake a natural way of life.

During this period we shot our short AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A HOPI presenting the life and philosophy of a traditional. This black-and-white 16mm documentary was a finalist in the National Short Film Competition and was also selected as Best of Filmex at the Los Angeles International Film Exposition. Check it out at:www.indieflix.com.

TECHQUA IKACHI: ABORIGINAL WARNING on DVD from http://www.amazon.com or http://www’indieflix.com.

The EARTH SPIRIT story

The tale of the Spirit of Sacred Mesa is told by an elder. Some don’t believe, but the facts do support the old man. It is the story of the working of the prophecy of the Hopi and other indigenous peoples as they protest modern greed. The old man says an ancient unseen spirit haunts mesa country in the high desert of the Southwest. Mother Earth is being raped by oil drilling and mineral mining. Mesa people believe this earth spirit is unhappy at what has been done to this land and its people According to ancient prophecy, the Spirit of Sacred Mesa might erupt in a rage that could destroy this world. Tela, daughter of the late lamented leader of the mesa people, escaped from the harsh desert where she grew up. She left to seek a middle-class life in Los Angeles but found poverty and stress.

A way out of their financial crunch appears to Tela in the form of an offer by a mining company for mineral rights in the family land. She can take the money but finds herself fighting against her family and many of her people.

Will the land be desecrated? Death and destruction will prove necessary to resolve these conflicts and leave the Spirit of Sacred Mesa at peace. The Earth Spirit character that appears as a dream in the story is not merely a movie device nor a superstition but also a reflection of science from the recently developed Gaia Theory: www.gaiatheory.org

Part One: AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A HOPI, historical documentary (9 minutes)

A young boy is taken away from the land by the federal government to go to school, to factory work, to unemployment, to war. He finally chooses to return to tradition and a more natural life.

Part Two: EARTH SPIRIT, prophetic docudrama (35 minutes)

A troubled city teenager of mixed ancestry is drawn back home to help defend the land, and an elder risks his life to stop the mining because of ancient prophecy that harming the earth will bring doom to humanity. But many indigenous people want the material benefits of modern industry. Tribe and family are split apart as traditionals blockade the main highway to protest mining and drilling.

The feature-length version of EARTH SPIRIT (83 minutes) received the Neptune Award at the Moondance International Film Festival:

http://earthspiritmovie.wordpress.com

All around the world, indigenous peoples are protesting the drilling and mining that has invaded their lands. Like Al Gore, many are concerned about the effect of global warming on their health and well-being, but few think about the health or well-being of those suffering right now at the sources of our energy and metals.

However, with the coming of global warming, we will all go down together.

The DVD of the film TECHQUA IKACHI is available through

http://www.indieflix.com/Films/TECHQUAIKACHIABORIGINALWARNING.

The two videos which compose TECHQUA IKACHI are the first two videos in our educational video trilogy PROPHECY & POLLUTION on the history of oil and mining exploitation of lands of indigenous peoples:

http://prophecyandpollution.wordpress.com

Other sources of information:

http://techquaikachi.wordpress.com/worldwide-indigenous-protests-against-oil-and-mining/

http://techquaikachi.wordpress.com/oil-and-mining-bring-global-warming/

http://techquaikachi.wordpress.com/hopi-environmental-lesson-plan/