Haines residents will not only get to see the new film “Tracing Roots” at an upcoming library event, they’ll also have an opportunity to speak with the film’s director and its subject.
The library will show “Tracing Roots” at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 21. The screening will be followed by a discussion with filmmaker Ellen Frankenstein and Haida master weaver Delores Churchill.
Frankenstein and Churchill will also speak at the Klukwan School library at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20. Though “Tracing Roots” won’t be screened, they will discuss the making of the film and the story behind it.
The 35-minute film follows Churchill through the process of recreating a traditional spruce root hat found with “The Long Ago Person Found,” a mummified body uncovered by a retreating glacier in British Columbia’s Tatshenshini-Alsek Wilderness Park.
The body was found in 1999 by a group of hunters and has been dated to be between 300 and 550 years old.
In 2000, DNA testing of members of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations revealed 17 people related to the man through their maternal line.
According to the film’s website, Churchill’s “search to understand the roots of the woven hat crosses cultures and borders, and involves artists, scholars and scientists. The documentary raises questions about understanding and interpreting ownership, knowledge and connection.”
Library education and cultural coordinator Jessie Morgan said she has spoken with Anastasia Wiley, a local archeologist, about the importance of the film screening. “These kind of events are good for posterity, for the culture, for traditional knowledge. The project that Delores undertook is helping to understand the culture and continuing it,” Morgan said.
Sitka filmmaker Frankenstein has previously visited Haines for the screening of another of her films, “Eating Alaska.”
Traditional foods will be served at the film screening and discussion. For more information, contact Morgan at 766-3830.