"Native America," a new four-part series from Providence Pictures, will premiere on the Arkansas Educational Television Network at 8 p.m. Tuesday and continue Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 13 at 8 and 9 p.m.
AETN has partnered with the Museum of Native American History in Bentonville for a free advance screening of "Native America" at 7 p.m. today. The screening, which is free and open to the public, will be held at the Museum of Native American History, 202 SW O St., Bentonville. Additional information is available at monah.us/events.
"Native America" weaves history and science with living indigenous traditions to bring to life a land of massive cities connected by social networks spanning two continents, with unique and sophisticated systems of science, art and writing. "Made with the active participation of Native American communities and filmed in some of the most spectacular locations in the hemisphere, 'Native America' illuminates the splendor of a past whose story has for too long remained untold," a news release said.
Today's screening in Bentonville will feature the first episode of the series, "From Caves to Cosmos," which combines ancient wisdom and modern science to answer a 15,000-year-old question: "Who were America's First Peoples?" The answer hides in Amazonian cave paintings, Mexican burial chambers, New Mexico's Chaco Canyon and waves off California's coast.
Also featured during the event will be AETN original digital shorts taped during the 2018 Native American Cultural Symposium.
"Narrated by Robbie Robertson (Mohawk and member of the famed rock group The Band), each hour of 'Native America' explores Great Nations and reveals cities, sacred stories and history long hidden in plain sight," the release said.
"In what is now America's Southwest, indigenous people built stone skyscrapers with untold spiritual power and transformed deserts into fertile fields. In upstate New York, warriors renounced war and formed America's first democracy 500 years before the Declaration of Independence, later inspiring Benjamin Franklin. Just outside Mexico City, the ancient city of Teotihuacan is home to massive pyramids built to align with the sun and moon. On the banks of the Mississippi, rulers also raised a metropolis of pyramids and drew thousands to their new city to worship the sky. And, in the American West, nomadic tribes transformed a weapon of conquest -- the horse -- into a new way of life, turning the tables on European invaders and building a mobile empire," it said.
Entertainment on 10/20/2018