Celebrate Native American Heritage Month with films and a festival.

Nov. 5 - The documentary film Spiral of Fire, produced, directed and edited by Carol Cornsilk, right, lecturer in the Department of Radio, Television and Film, will be shown at 7 p.m. in Radio, Television, Film and Performing Arts Building, Room 184.

Cornsilk, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, will introduce the movie and answer questions after the screening.

The movie is about the Eastern Band of Cherokees’ fusion of tourism, cultural preservation and spirituality that helps the tribe maintain its identity in the 21st Century. Spiral of Fire is the second part of Cornsilk’s Indian Country Diaries series. She produced the series with her company, Adanvdo Vision, in conjunction with Native American Public Communications in Lincoln, Neb., where Cornsilk was director of programming and production.

Nov. 9 - Drumming and Dancing, Native American Cultural Event will be at 12 p.m. in the University Union, One O’Clock Lounge. Presented by the American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Texas, the event will feature traditional drummers and dancers from Across Indian Country, a performing group. Left, a dancer at  the 2008 indigeneous student video conference held at UNT.

Nov. 10 - The film, Our Spirits Don’t Speak English: Indian Boarding School, will be shown at 4 p.m.
in the University Union, Multicultural Center Office, Room 216. Told from a Native American perspective, the documentary uncovers the history of the U.S. government’s policy toward Native Americans, which included taking children from their homes and families and forcing them into boarding schools. Former educators and students from these schools give voice to Native American children forced through a system designed to take away their culture, heritage and traditions.

After the screening, a discussion about the film will be led by Jonathan Hook, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.