Prospector (2015)
Please email for password Talena dot d dot sanders at gmail dot com
Experiments in 19th century acculturation of two groups living thousands of miles apart, but sharing the same name, depending on whom you talk to and what language you say it in. Parallel histories of invasion, assimilation, aspirations, and appropriations, from the first colonization to the mid-century modern and today. Prospectors, colonists, and tourists seeking future sites of luxury, resources, and romance.
Text/audio drawn from Lord Macaulay’s Minute on Indian Education (1835) as performed by Samarth Naik, Captain Richard H. Pratt’s speech printed in “The Advantages of Mingling the Indians With Whites” (1892) as performed by Bobby Bass, G&E Show n’ Tell PictureSound Record “Indian Pow Wow” (1965), songs from “Christopher Columbus” Mel-O-Toons (1960), language lessons from the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, promotional materials from Jaypee Greens luxury homes, Lord Macaulay's Minute on Indian Education as read by Vikram Chandra from "The Big Fight Over Language" NDTV (2014), field recordings recorded on location in and around New Delhi (2013). All image original, except for still images from G&E Show n' Tell PictureSound Record "Indian Pow Wow".
"Talena Sanders's Prospector is a collagelike essay about the effects of Western imperialism on northern India and on Native American communities in the southwestern U.S.; interwoven shots of untouched landscapes and tourist kitsch suggest an ongoing conflict between past and present...Prospector uses 16-millimeter film to evoke feelings of nostalgia, fragility, and irreparable loss." - Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader
Screening History
Onion City Film Festival 2015
Indie Grits Film Festival 2015
Milwaukee Underground Film Festival 2015
Oak Cliff Film Festival 2015
Journal of Media Practice Symposium 2015
Viennale (Oct. 2015)