Powwow People is a documentary film by Sky Hopinka, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, that will be screening during the Milwaukee Film Festival. This vérité-style documentary focuses on the events of a three-day powwow capturing the reflections, relationships, and experiences of being present at the social event.
Featuring music and movement, Hopinka and his team organized a powwow to showcase what it really means to be a powwow person.
Powwows have always been a large part of Hopinka's life.
"It's something that I could always return to even when I didn't dance for an extended period of time. Powwows are always places where I feel like some of the stresses you don't realize that you're carrying kind of wash away," Hopinka explains.
As a filmmaker, Hopinka has always wanted to feature a powwow as a focal point of a film, emphasizing the real, lived experience of the community gatherings.
"I just think that there's something beautiful about them. There's something too about that relationship of spectacle. There's something about the relationship of visitors and guests and spectators coming and this idea of performance. [The film] isn't necessarily to explain what powwows are or to teach the history of powwows, but rather to show my relationship," Hopinka says.
The documentary weaves together insights from participants with how the powwow lifestyle and culture are a changing part of Indigenous cultures. The film portrays folks like Jamie John, a two-spirit Jingle Dress dancer, and Freddy Kozad, a member of drum group.
"It was really nice and fun to talk to Jamie because they're thinking so much about these things in such a deep and introspective way that isn't just about the present but thinking about the future, and they really put into words some things that I was thinking about or wondering about or just couldn't quite articulate. I think that they serve as a wonderful counterpoint...in addition to Freddie, who's also speaking about the past, you know, not so much like a nostalgic, mournful way, but just the way that these are the things that happened and we need to remember them through the small anecdotes."
The film will be screening during the Milwaukee Film Festival on April 25, 28 and 30.
