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More often these days, I don’t believe in the business of politics or in big institutions. I believe in smaller things--my girlfriend’s organic herb garden, buying local, the necessity of art. It may sound corny, but I believe in poetry, in beautiful photographs, in music that heals and frees the self, in books and films that document what is usually undocumented. I believe in art that testifies, educates, inspires, shifts the paradigm, and helps fill some of the voids in this crazy, upside down world.
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Although The Thick Dark Fog is nearing completion, Vasquez still needs an additional $15,000.00 for final editing, original music, color correction, sound mix and archival footage. As with many independent filmmakers today, Vasquez is raising funds through Kickstarter. He has until September 1st, 2011 to raise the needed $15,000.00 via individual contributors like you and me. If Vasquez and his film crew don’t reach that goal by the set date, whatever monies have been raised must be returned. This is our opportunity to help make the films that matter. Every dollar counts!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1194934361/the-thick-dark-fog. http://www.thickdarkfog.com/?page_id=11
Here’s Randy Vasquez answering a few more questions about his recent film:
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What led you to Walter Littlemoon and The Thick Dark Fog?
After I'd done Testimony: The Maria Guardado Story I was wondering what my next documentary would be. I worked kind of half-heartedly on a couple of things but wasn't fully inspired. Then in 2003, I started reading about the American Indian boarding schools and how kids were being forcibly turned away from their Native identities. At the same time I was interested in why there was this stereotype of the drunk Indian. Why was that? I was being told that it was simply a genetic matter but I didn't buy it. I learned about childhood trauma from the Indian boarding schools and it made sense to me that alcohol or even suicide would help relieve painful demons of the past. I kept hearing about how difficult it was for people to talk about the boarding school experience, from Alaska to North Carolina, and it was creating this void in family histories, a gap.
As part of my research I came across the book Trauma and Recovery by Harvard psychologist Judith Herman. I contacted her, told her what I was doing and she turned me on to her colleague Jayme Shorin who had ties to the Native community. I contacted Jayme and she said "You need to talk to Walter Littlemoon in Wounded Knee." I did.
What's the hardest part of being a filmmaker? For me, it's been asking the hard, personal and painful questions of my subjects during the interview. I know it's necessary for what I do but at the same time I don't like getting into people's personal business. In the end, I think their stories are too important not to be told, so I just do my best.
What's been the best part? After a screening of Testimony when people come up to me or Maria crying or in shock saying "I never knew this happened!" Then I know it was all worth it.
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