Written and directed by Amy Gustafson, a family of Native filmmakers attend a powwow at Skagit Valley College in the Pacific Northwest and share various perspectives on Native music, dance, drums, and culture. Featuring: Lou LaBombard, Merlin Kicking Woman, Kelsey Edge, Alissa Edge, Jason Cain, Steven Arrowtopknot, Anthony Bluehorse, Jennifer Gustafson, Young Society, Sheldon Shebala and Paula Shebala.
There is a vast, rich library to pull from when it comes to Native American culture, the history, the tradition, the community, so much hasn’t been explored in film and television. So, it’s always great to see a film, like The Powwow portraying that fascinating heritage. Particularly when it’s coming from such a sensitive perspective, with Amy Gustafson wanting to dive in but also wanting to be respectful about her lack of experience. That sort of self-awareness and consideration is always lovely to see in any context in an increasingly selfish world.
That’s really where the strength of The Powwow lies, in Gustafson’s passion and dedication. You can feel that strong intent to capture the meaningful nature to Powwow’s and how they bring people together in a celebration of their culture. There’s a great deal of pride to be found with the talking heads, they each clearly portray how enriched their lives have been by these experiences and the strong sense of community. The style is very off-the-cuff and attempts to approach the topic in a mindful yet casual manner.
With that choice comes advantages and disadvantages, in some ways that simple style works really well. It lets the topic speak for itself for the most part while adding a personal nature with Amy Gustafson’s experiences, which certainly grows the heart of the film. However, the directorial style can be too messy, there’s a lot of times where there’s much more movement than needed, often obscuring the shots. It adds a feel of inexperience which undermines the weight of the documentary. There’s a nicely natural charm to it initially but as the film moves on, it feels like it needed to settle in and refine itself to really fulfil its potential.
The Powwow has a great story to tell but doesn’t always pick the right way to do it. There are some strong ingredients, but the camera work often feels too awkward to match the overall tone. It feels like there’s many occasions where simply using a tripod to remove the distracting shakiness would have allowed the film to focus and truly put these celebrations of Native culture on show, as it clearly wants to. The intentions are undoubtedly there and with Amy Gustafson makes for an interesting subject but it’s missing a more graceful touch.
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