Itam Hakim Hopiit (1984)

Library of Congress description:

Victor Masayesva Jr., Hopi director and cinematographer of the video “Itam Hakim, Hopiit” (We/someone, the Hopi), once wrote, “If film is about imagined time and space, it is borne from the imagination of people each of whom have constructed those times and spaces differently.” In “Itam Hakim, Hopiit,” Masayesva imaginatively translates Hopi Native oral traditions into video art. Complexly constructed of four stories conveyed to Hopi children by elder Hopi historian Ross Macaya, who died shortly after the film’s release, and accompanied by imagery documenting Hopi life, often in non-confrontational close-ups of details or revealed by a non-intruding and slowly-moving camera, “Itam Hakim, Hopiit” moves from the personal to the mythological to the historical, ending up in prophesy. Trained as a still photographer and active as a poet, Masayesva masterly employed color posterization accompanied by Spanish military music and a Vivaldi concerto to introduce a section on Spanish conquest, fast-motion to distort a harvest dance, contemplative long shots of landscapes, blurred videography, and silence for emphatic effect. “For me,” he wrote, “photography is a way of imagining life’s complexity. It provides an analogy for philosophical comprehension.” At the conclusion, Macaya announces the importance of the video for the Hopi people: “I have told you a lot. You have learned a lot from me and learned the stories. These stories are going to be put down so the children will remember them. The children will be seeing this and improving on it. This is what will happen. This will not end anywhere.”

Where to stream:

Preview available on YouTube

DVD available for a whopping $320