The following movie might almost qualify as a pop anthropological
studies on "wannabees":
>From a NFB (National Film Board of Canada) flyer:
EUROINDIAN SUMMER?
Each summer, in a lush, green valley in the
Czech region of Bohemia, a group of Native
American "Indians" gather to live in teepees.
Indians in Europe, really? Not exactly.
Actually, they're "Euroindians", a remarkable
phenonmenon that is the subjectof the upcoming
documentry _Indians of Czecholslovakia_
(working title). Co-produced by the NFP Prairie
Centre and Zemma Pictures, the film profiles a
group of Central European "EuroIndians" who
emulate the traditional ways of North American
Native peoples.
"In the Czech republic thre are literally hun-
dreds of people who idolize North American
Indians as an exaple of the `natural people' --
the essence of liberty, reflecting the notion of
being one with the environment," sys direc-
tor/producer John Paskievich.
Paskievich plans to return to Europe this summer
for more filming. He is now editing footage
shot last August, including a visit by three
Native elders from Winnipect and The Pas,
Manitoba. In total, he and his crew spent three
weeks last summer filming in a EuroIndian
camp -- a setting proved more exotic
than they could have expected.
"It was a little bit like arriving at the Twilight
Zone," remembers Paskievich. "there you are
-- in the heart of Europe -- and this group of
`Indians' descends on you as soon as you get out
of your rental car. At first, it's hard to know what
to film, there's such a magical quality to the scene."
The NFB producers are Joe MacDonald and
Ches Yetman.
Ann Farnham
[The headline "Euroindian summer" is an oblique reference to
another film mentioned in the same flyer, "Kanehsatake:
270 Years of Resistance", by filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin.
The term "Indian summer" was sometimes used to describe the 1990
summer when the standoff at Oka occurred. This film
is currently playing to full houses (I know coz I couldn't
get in) in Toronto.]
Tony Plate