Dixon-Wanamaker Expedition to Crow Agency (1908)
Featured Nonfiction
•
1m 3s
1908 film shows Crow life. Valuable footage, but colonial lens raises questions.
Led by Joseph K. Dixon and sponsored by department store magnate Rodman Wanamaker, The Dixon-Wanamaker Expedition to Crow Agency (1909) aimed to capture a vanishing Native American way of life on Montana's Crow Reservation.
The resulting silent films experimented with the new potential of the medium. Dixon, a self-proclaimed expert on Native Americans, carefully staged scenes to create a romanticized portrayal of Crow culture. Yet, the very act of filming everyday life and ceremonies offered an unprecedented glimpse into a world undergoing forced assimilation.
These films hold a complex place within experimental cinema. While Dixon's intentions were shaped by the cultural biases of his time, the moving images themselves captured a dynamic reality in flux.
The Crow people's participation, both staged and candid, offers a window into their own negotiation of identity in the face of a rapidly changing world.
Up Next in Featured Nonfiction
-
Down the Hudson (1903)
A fast-paced trip down the river, showing off scenery & riverside industry in a blink.
While Down the Hudson (1903), a seemingly simple travelogue, captures a trip down the Hudson River, the way it does so challenges traditional filmmaking techniques.
The film utilizes a sped-up effect, achiev...
-
Interior New York Subway, 14th Street...
Witness the early days of this revolutionary transit system, a glimpse into 1905 New York life.
Filmed by G.W. Bitzer just seven months after the New York City subway's inauguration, Interior New York Subway, 14th Street to 42nd Street (1905) takes viewers on a novel journey beneath Manhattan's ...
-
Manhatta (1921)
Ferry to sunset, skyscrapers to streets, a love letter to urban dynamism.
Manhatta (1921), a collaboration between photographer Paul Strand and painter Charles Sheeler, abandons traditional narrative structure, instead presenting a series of 65 carefully composed shots that capture the dynamism ...
