AUNTIE: Wa’tkwanonhweráton Sewakwé:kon. On this edition of The Aunties Dandelion – we visit with Paige Bethmann, filmmaker and storyteller from Mohawk and Oneida Nations. Paige spent years in mainstream media in New York City and then was recently compelled to move across the country to create her first feature documentary titled REMAINING NATIVE. She follows Ku Stevens – a young Paiute man who runs to honor the memory of his great grandfather Frank Quinn. As an eight-year-old boy Frank Quinn escaped the horrors of Indian boarding school by running across fifty miles of desert – not once – but three times. The story resonates deeply with Paige whose great-grandmother was not able to flee her residential school – which she entered at the age of two. Paige considers this film a journey of healing the past, the present and the future. PAIGE: For the film, but also in life – we ran away from boarding school to hold on to our identities and now to honor those who did flee away but now we are going back to reclaim that journey for ourselves. And it is just so powerful. AUNTIE: Paige’s story focuses on the resilience and brilliance of our Onkwehónwe communities – where relationship with land creates pathways for all of us to survive and thrive. PAIGE: There was a reason Frank Quinn could run across the desert three times and survive. It’s because he knew the land. He knew where the buckberries grew. He knew how to get home. AUNTIE: We are Yethinistenha ne tekaronyakenare - the Aunties Dandelion. We’re a media arts organization and a collective of storytellers revitalizing our community through narratives of land, language and relationships. Join us for our visit with filmmaker Paige Bethmann – and don’t forget to listen to your Aunties.
Click here for Remaining Native website
She Carries Her House Instagram
Paige featured on Indian Country Today
New York Times article about Ku Stevens