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Reservation(s) 2007, digital video

Reservation(s) is the culmination of my disaffection one and a half years into the MFA Film program at Syracuse University, it is also a play on the word reservation, which came to me while I was driving (fumingly angry over certain instances at SU) to Onondaga to visit my family. Western Pedagogy tends to clash with Native American cultural views in the academic arena, especially when professors do not possess a comprehension of Native American culture. I experienced underhanded comments that were intended to be praise within my own department as well as continued ignorance or stereotyped references hurled at me in my program (this may have been another attempt at humor by the department). So, Reservation(s) is my ode to my educational experience specifically directed toward my own department.

FESTIVALS: 2008 - 35th Annual Athens International Film Festival (Athens, OH); 2008 Indie Spirit Film Festival (Colorado Springs, CO); 2008 - On the Move: Images of Travel Screening, Everson Museum of Art (Syracuse, NY)

all content ©2010 Torry Mendoza | all rights reserved

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