‘History of the Iñupiat: Project Chariot’ screens 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012 at Anchorage Museum
In 1958, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission planned to detonate thermonuclear bombs near Point Hope, North America’s oldest continually inhabited settlement.
“History of the Iñupiat: Project Chariot” tells the dramatic story of an Iñupiaq village that stopped the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, the most powerful government agency of its time. The film is directed by Iñupiaq/Norwegian filmmaker Rachel Naninaaq Edwardson, Barrow.
“History of the Iñupiat: Project Chariot” premieres at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14 in the Anchorage Museum auditorium. A Skype Q&A with Edwardson follows. Admission is free; seating is limited and on a first come, first served basis.
The Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center organized this film’s premiere in anticipation of the Alaska Federation of Natives conference Oct. 18-20 in Anchorage.
PROJECT CHARIOT
In 1958, as the Cold War arms race entered the nuclear age, the United States Atomic Energy Commission planned to detonate eight thermonuclear bombs at Cape Thompson, which is 25 miles from Point Hope, North America’s oldest continually inhabited settlement. A small village of Iñupiaq people, with the help of courageous scientists, stopped the commission and prevented massive nucleardevastation in Alaska. Learn more here.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Filmmaker Rachel Naninaaq Edwardson (Iñupiat/Norwegian) has begun the historical film series “History of the Iñupiat” for the Alaska Native Education Program, operated by Barrow’s North Slope Borough School District. The first film in the series, “1961 The Duck-In,” premiered at the 2006 Native American Film + Video Festival, New York City. In 2009 she was awarded a Sundance Institute Ford Foundation Film Fellowship. Edwardson also conducts storytelling workshops in indigenous and marginalized communities around the world, focusing on Iñupiat villages. She lives in Barrow and Melbourne, Australia.
The Anchorage Museum is the largest museum in Alaska and one of the top 10 mostvisited attractions in the state. The museum’s mission is to share and connect Alaska with the world through art, history and science.
Learn more online at www.anchoragemuseum.org.
