Fire Starters, Macon film festivals partner as ‘Red Fever’ debuts

Indigenous people, stories and creators are the opening night focus when the Macon Film Festival starts next week – it begins Thursday, Aug. 15 – with “Red Fever” having its international premiere at the Douglass Theatre and the “Ocmulgee to Okmulgee” art exhibit opening at the McEachern Art Center.

The evening’s film fare is a Macon Film Festival-Fire Starters Film Festival partnership. This is the Macon festival’s 19th year and the Fire Starters festival’s second.

“It’s an exciting collaboration being under Macon Film Festival’s banner bringing these important types of films to Macon,” said Tracie Revis, a Fire Starters founder and Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizen who now lives in Macon as director of advocacy for the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative.

Fire Starters funding is from the Macon200 campaign through a Downtown Challenge 2.0 grant to broaden Native American awareness locally and aid ONPPI’s daily work to see the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park become a full-fledged National Park and the preservation and conservation of lands along the banks of the Ocmulgee River.

The Muscogee (Creek) were the last Indigenous people to occupy the mounds area before forced removal to Oklahoma and illegal confiscation of their lands and properties in the 1800s, infamously known as the Trail of Tears.

In recent years, significant bonds of friendship and purpose have been established between Macon and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma with a reuniting of Muscogee peoples with their ancestral homeland and the Middle Georgia community.    

“In 2023, the Fire Starters films and art focused directly on Muskogee (Creek) creators,” Revis said. “This year, while the artists at ‘Ocmulgee to Okmulgee’ are from the nation, ‘Red Fever’s’ creators take a bigger perspective and look at all of Indian Country and how different we are, the impact we’ve had on culture and the many factors that surround how we’re perceived versus how we really are as living, growing and changing people and cultures.”

Promotional material for “Red Fever” says it takes a witty approach in looking at “the profound — yet hidden — Indigenous influence on Western culture and identity” as co-director Neil Diamond asks, “Why do they love us so much?” and addresses the world’s fascination with stereotypical Native imagery and why Indigenous cultures have been revered, romanticized and appropriated.

“Red Fever’s” co-writers/directors Diamond and Catherine Bainbridge previously produced two outstanding documentaries, “RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World” and “Reel Injun” about Native American stereotypes and realities in film.

A short film will also be presented, an Oklahoma-based documentary Revis said deals with activism surrounding the protection and renewal of a water source, an issue she said is of historical Native significance and relevant to her everyday work of conservation and the Ocmulgee.

Thursday evening’s opening schedule begins at 5 p.m. with a gallery reception at the McEachern for “Ocmulgee to Okmulgee” and an artist talk at 6 p.m. The film screenings at the Douglass featuring “Red Fever” begin at 7:15 p.m. with a director Q&A following. An after party follows at the McEachern for festival-goers with all-access ticketing.

The reception artist talk will be by Muscogee (Creek) fine artist Johnnie Diacon, the only artist scheduled to be at the opening. Tying things together with the coming Indigenous Celebration at Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park in September, the “Ocmulgee to Okmulgee” exhibit runs through Sept. 21 and encompasses the Sept. 14-15 Indigenous Celebration. 

On Sept. 13, the McEachern-Fire Starters will hold a pre-Indigenous Celebration reception with all three artists on hand. There will be other activities surrounding the weekend, but more on that in days ahead.

While Diacon represents traditional Native American painting, designer-textile artist Jamie Bennett represents modern wardrobe and textile design based on traditional themes while Kenneth Johnson is a celebrated contemporary sculptor, jewelry designer and accomplished metalsmith in copper, silver, gold, platinum and palladium.

Revis said it is Johnson who created the elaborate, traditional silver gorgets – neckwear descendent of European armor – worn by Muscogee (Creek) Nation Principal Chief David Hill and Second Chief Del Beaver and popular in Native dress. Johnson is also set to design a sculpture for the coming East Macon Bicentennial Park just outside Ocmulgee Mounds.

Together, Revis said the artists’ work creates a good mindset for comprehending many traditional and modern Native realities the festival hopes to reveal and “Red Fever” addresses.

Johnny Cohen, director of the McEachern Art Center, said the gallery will be arranged to highlight the juxtaposition between traditional fine art, wardrobe-textile art and jewelry.

“It’s all telling a story,” he said, “Each tells a story that adds to a larger, important story because of the cultural and historical roots of Macon and the Muscogee people. Having this in proximity to the Ocmulgee Mounds has an impact on visitors locally and those from Oklahoma who are seeing where their heritage lies and ancestors grew up. The community enjoyed last year’s “Ocmulgee to Okmulgee” exhibit and the opportunity to make friends and build relationships between those of us here on the banks of the Ocmulgee and those in Oklahoma. It’s great art but it’s about people.”

Bennet, an outstanding designer-seamstress who has previously been in Middle Georgia at the Indigenous Celebration, told me she was honored to show her work.

“It’s so special to bring my Mvskoke art to the homelands of Macon,” she said. “I’ve spent years researching and learning about the textile and pottery designs from pre-removal and worked out ways to incorporate those images into a modern aesthetic. I absolutely love the stories behind the images. My way of telling stories is through my wearable art. I hope I’m able to spark interest in our history but also I want to let people know we’re still here and we’re thriving.”

Diacon, based in Tulsa, began as an artist by filling in the blanks of work done by his sign-painter father. That led to a life-long love of drawing and art training with degrees from Bacone College, the Institute of American Indian Art and the University of Arkansas. He’s a versatile creator working in many styles and media from comic books dealing with WWII Code Talkers, Indian Boarding Schools and Indigenous superheroes to the jump to fine art in oils, acrylics, watercolor and even 3D work on canvas incorporating elaborate beadwork.

His work explores traditional Native styles and themes of personal experience, spiritual and ceremonial subjects and everyday historical and modern life.

Just to show the growing range of Diacon’s depth and popularity, he’s a board member of the Indigenous Art Alliance, had numerous paintings featured on sets of the award-winning “Reservation Dogs” streaming series, has works on display at Hartsfield International, is becoming a regular speaker and panel member at Emory University Indigenous outreach programs and is set for virtual appearances at Kennesaw State University.

His three-panel “Trail of Tears” mural painted for the Museum of Native American History is featured in the Summer issue of Humanities: The Magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities and he’s returning to comics with a project with Arigon Starr and her Rezium Studios’ Super Indian Comics.

Aside from the “Ocmulgee to Okmulgee” exhibit where Diacon will have 20 original works of a traditional nature, he will again be at the September Indigenous Celebration with prints and create a live, original work to leave at the park.

“I have so many ideas of what to paint live, I’m letting them wrestle it out to see which one I’ll end up doing,” he told me. “Right now though, I’m excited about trying new things in the studio. I’ve been painting for 40 years and covered many areas in different ways but I’m just beginning to incorporate beadwork on canvases and I’ve never done that before. I’m coming into a mixed media phase then after that I’m sure I’ll move on. It’s good to stay creative and highlight new skills.”

One constant is Diacon’s good-hearted, people-oriented nature that fits well with making new friends and the new day of brotherhood between the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Macon.

“It’s always been a goal to take these images I have about our past, our people, and replicate them for others,” he said. “At first, it was just for us to see but now Native American art is getting more popular with a wider audience outside Indian Country so more people are interested and seeing our stories and learning about our lives. Who we are as pictured in my art has a place hanging in people’s homes and I’m proud of that. But it also carries the responsibility of doing good work and telling our stories honestly. The sales are nice but the compliments of what people see in my work and get from it mean everything to me.

“I like connecting with people and getting the chance to visit our homeland, meet others and have the feeling of a bond and kinship and welcome like we have now. It’s not just acquaintances, sometimes it’s like some kind of family reunion.”

While the opening reception at the McEachern at 5 p.m., Aug. 15, is free, film ticketing, including Fire Starters films and Fulldome films at the Museum of Arts and Sciences, is through the Macon Film Festival. For ticketing, schedules and other information, visit
www.maconfilmfestival.com, www.ocmulgeepark.org (ONPPI), www.macmacon.com, www.kennethjohnson.com, www.facebook.com/JohnnieDiaconArt.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com. Join him on Instagram @michael_w_pannell.