Citizen Initiatives
The United Houma Nation is pleased to be able to feature the outstanding work and initiatives of our tribal citizens that independently promotes and advances our tribal nation. Please come back and check on this page to see the work of your fellow tribal citizens.
If you are an enrolled tribal citizen and have begun your own initiative to advance the efforts of our Tribe, please contact us so we can learn more and share your stories. Send your information to [email protected]
Visit our website http://www.indiansanta.com/
Indian Santa is a brief look at life in South Louisiana, as seen through the eyes of Thomas Dardar, principal chief of the United Houma Nation and Indian Santa.
The film follows Thomas and his family over December 2011, as they deliver toys to nine different communities throughout South Louisiana, bringing Christmas joy to many children and families whose lives have been forever altered by the BP oil spill and our country’s ongoing recession. The great thing about the program is that it is for ALL children in the area not just children from the Houma Indian tribe.
The film is an official selection of the New Orleans Film Festival, the South Alabama Film Festival, the American Indian Film Festival, and was the winner of the Best Documentary Award at the inaugural Life Film Festival in Baton Rouge, LA. Additionally, it will be screening in New York City in April 2013, as part of the Smithsonian Institute’s National Institute of the American Indian “Louisiana Stories” series.
As part of the film’s online release, we are holding a fundraising drive to raise money for Indian Santa’s 2012 trip. While many of the toys Chief delivers are donations through Toys for Tots, the money Chief and his family spend on gas and food comes directly out of their own pockets. To donate, please visit www.indiegogo.com/IndianSanta.
For more information on the film, visit our page on Facebook.
My Louisiana Love follows a young Native American woman, Monique Verdin, as she returns to Southeast Louisiana to reunite with her Houma Indian family. But soon she sees that her people’s traditional way of life- fishing, trapping, and hunting these fragile wetlands– is threatened by a cycle of man-made environmental crises. As Louisiana is devastated by Hurricane Katrina and Rita and then the BP oil leak, Monique finds herself turning to environmental activism. She documents her family’s struggle to stay close to the land despite the cycle of disasters and the rapidly disappearing coastline. The film looks at the complex and uneven relationship between the oil industry and the indigenous community of the Mississippi Delta. In this intimate documentary portrait, Monique must overcome the loss of her house, her father, and her partner – and redefine the meaning of home. Her story is both unique and frighteningly familiar.