The Klukwan Community and School Library received the 2017 Outstanding Project Award from the Guardians of Culture and Lifeways Award Program for their original film series “Cultivating Traditional Practices: Enhancing Our Self-reliance and Preserving Our Culture”.
Jamie Katzeek accepted the award at this year’s Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums annual conference. She has attended the conference each year since 2013 and plans to continue. “It’s inspiring to meet others who are striving to do the same thing,” she said.
Katzeek received a two-year grant to create six films. Each film documents Klukwan traditional practices such as preparing dry strips and naayadi, making indian pudding, gathering seaweed, making jarred fresh pack, seal hunting and Moose Camp.
Filming took place in 2014, with Katzeek behind the camera for the majority of the films. Tim McDonough filmed “Moose Camp” so she could do her yearly subsistence tasks. “It was really wonderful to work with him,” said Katzeek. Many people from Haines and Klukwan were featured in the films and helped bring the project to life.
Though not a substitute for oral tradition, the films serve as a way to pass on traditional practices. A friend of Katzeek’s used the films to learn how to make dry strips. When Katzeek asked if the film was helpful she got perfectly prepared dry strips in response.
The films also preserve knowledge of tribe members who have passed away. Fred Strong, featured for his subsistence knowledge, died months after filming. Katzeek was able to give the films to his family so they can continue to learn from him.
The films range from ten to twenty minutes in length. A seventh, documenting the hand adzing of a replica longhouse, was done under a grant from the National Park Service. The series is available for purchase from the Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center. Both the Haines Public Library and Klukwan Community and School Library have the films.
Katzeek is currently in the final stages of editing a new film series called “2.6 Million Acres – The Story of the Chilkat Tlingit Land.” The four-film collection describes how the Chilkat Tlingit territory once covered 2.6 million acres and discusses why it’s been reduced to just under 2,000 acres. One of the films could potentially premier before the end of the year.