Vision Maker Media announces film festival for March

LINCOLN, Neb. –  Vision Maker Media announces its Sixth Biennial Vision Maker Film Festival, March 11-13, in Lincoln. The Festival, a celebration of Native culture, heritage, wisdom and sacred stories by Native storytellers, showcases films by Native filmmakers at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center. More than a dozen guest speakers involved with the showcased films will be in attendance.

Vision Maker Media is a Lincoln-based non-profit organization, part of the National Minority Consortia, that receives funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Kicking off the three-day event is a 5:30 p.m. reception and world premiere of the highly anticipated NET Television film, Medicine Woman, a new one-hour PBS documentary produced by and about women that features historic and contemporary profiles of female healers, starting with Susan La Flesche Picotte (1865-1915) of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska. Held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Van Brunt Visitors Center (313 N. 13th St.), hors d’oeuvres will be provided prior to the screening. Filmmakers will be available for Q&A’s after the film.

Prior to the screening, Peggy Berryhill, the founder of the Native Media Resource Center (NMRC) will be awarded the Frank Blythe Award for Media Excellence. Founded in 1996, the NMRC produces content about Native Americans and promotes racial understanding and cross-cultural harmony.

Following the Medicine Woman Q&A session, there will be a sneak peek of the film Mankiller, an incredible true story of Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation who served as principal chief for 10 years from 1985 to 1995.

Festival Schedule: http://www.visionmakermedia.org/festival

Information also available on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vmfilmfest

An all-access festival pass costs $25 (less than $1.50 per film)

Ticket prices for individual films are the same as those charged by the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center: https://theross.org/movies/#tickets