“Brad Colerick and Scott Feldmann—The Stories We Tell,” featuring screenings of three short films, a Q&A panel, and a book-signing reception with refreshments, will be presented by the South Pasadena Arts Council (SPARC) and Colerick and Feldmann’s Deep Magic Song & Drawing Company on Sunday, September 8, at 4 p.m. at the Fremont Centre Theater and SPARC HQ & Gallery.
The short films, based on songs by Colerick, include “Lost Bird” (Zintkála Nuni), awarded “Best Mixed Media Short” at the Sedona International Film Festival in February 2024. Animated with drawings by Feldmann and historic photos, it features Colerick’s song, “Little Bird—Lost Bird of Wounded Knee,” telling of the troubled life of Zintka, a Native American girl “caught between two worlds and accepted by neither.” (Seventy-five years after her death in 1920, Lakota leadership from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota ceremoniously reburied Zintka at the Wounded Knee Monument.)
The film, Stories That We Tell, features song lyrics written and performed by Colerick, interpreted on screen through home movies of the 1950s, ‘60s and 70s. Manzanar (Yuki), with animation hand drawn by Feldmann over archival photographs by Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams and Clem Albers, depicts American-born Yukiko Okinaga Hiyakawa, who lived in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, until, at age two, with the advent of World War II, she became the youngest Japanese-American to be interned at Manzanar, one of the Roosevelt Administration’s ten, stateside incarceration centers.
A Q&A discussion with co-directors/producers Colerick and Feldmann regarding their films’ storytelling choices in sound and visualizations will be held in the Fremont Centre Theater after the screenings, moderated by Steve Fjeldsted, former Director of the South Pasadena Library. A reception and book signing in the SPARC HQ Gallery at the Fremont Centre will follow, marking the launch of the filmmakers’ illustrated book, Zintka!, a companion to the film, “Lost Bird.” The new book by Colerick and Feldmann expands on the true story of Zintka’s life and includes samples of Plains Indian ledger art. (Advance copies of the book will be available for purchase exclusively by attendees of the SPARC screening in South Pasadena and subsequent events in Nebraska and South Dakota.)
“In this special event, film, music, animation, and print combine to tell three important human stories,” said SPARC President Sandy Kitto. “These works by multi-talented artists Brad Colerick and Scott Feldmann embody SPARC’s mission to ‘Ignite Creativity and Illuminate the Arts.’”
The Fremont Centre Theatre is at 1000 Fremont Avenue, South Pasadena. The event is free; however, due to limited seating, reservations are required. Visit SPARC online at sopasartscouncil.org to reserve tickets.
