Dedham Community Theatre To Show "Dawnland" Saturday Morning

DEDHAM, MA - In honor of Indigenous Peoples Day, the Dedham Community Theatre is screening "Dawnland," the 2018 award-winning film that explores the issues of discrimination against Native Americans and the sanctity of their cultural identity.

It will be shown at 10 a.m. on Saturday in advance of Monday's holiday.

The film has received critical acclaim. "Dawnland" earned an Emmy in the category of news and documentary research for outstanding research in 2019, according to the Internet Movie Database. It also garnered several film festival awards, including the Wood's Hole Film Festival, the Buffalo International Film Festival and the Tacoma Film Festival. It also was the official 2018 selection of the International Film Festival Boston, or IFFB.

The event is being co-hosted by the Dedham Public Library, the Dedham Historical Society, the Town of Dedham's Human Rights Commission, and Cultural Survival, a group that has advocated for the rights of Indigenous peoples since 1972.

Danielle DeLuca, the advocacy manager at Cultural Survival, explained how her organization has promoted the rights of Indigenous and Native American rights around the world, noting that most people are unaware of the extent of the discrimination they have faced.

"What we have noticed is a lack of understanding of Native and Indigenous issues," she said. "That was never discussed in school when I was growing up. A lot of people don't understand the broader issues that Indigenous people face."

These concerns include poverty and being stripped of their land and culture, which "is equated to genocide," she noted.

"We need to educate people that Indigenous people are still here and we have been exposed to discrimination for 500 years," DeLuca continued.

Boston yesterday declared Oct. 11 as Indigenous People's Day, which more communities are adopting. The state legislature also took up a bill last week that calls for greater education about Indigenous issues in Massachusetts public schools.

"Dawnland" explores how children were ripped from their families for most of the past century and placed either in foster homes with white parents or boarding schools, where they were taught to adopt white culture and relinquish their ties to their heritage. As recently as the 1970s, one in four Indigenous children nationwide were living in non-Native American foster homes, according to the the film's website. Some suffered abuse at the hands of their foster parents, while many experienced the sense of living in two separate worlds.

The film focuses on the first government truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) in Maine as commission members met with the tribes that comprise the state's Wabanaki people. It also examines issues of child welfare and reconciliation.

"It is important to me for the Dedham Community Theatre to truly live up to its name of a community theater," said theater owner Rep. Paul McMurtry. "It needs to be a venue where folks can come together for enriching, educational opportunities, for meaningful conversations and for historical and cultural exploration through film."

After the documentary, there will be a discussion with Elizabeth Solomon, the treasurer of the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag,

A preview of "Dawnland" can be found at the film's website here.