Artist

Arlene Bowman

Arlene Bowman did not start out with filmmaking. First it was art. As a Dine' eight year old Arlene drew people's faces and bodies in elementary school art classes. At fourteen in high school the interest changed into still photography. 1971 at the San Francisco Art Institute she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Still Photography. When she moved to Los Angeles in 1977, the still photography interest changed into filmmaking, primarily what she does now. She obtained a Masters of Fine Arts in film production at University of California-Los Angeles in 1986. Currently she promotes "Locked Doors," a 4 minute song poem. Principal films and videos include: "Illegal Anger" video 2011, "The Graffiti," 2010, "Song Journey" and "Women and Men Are Good Dancers" both 1994 and "Navajo Talking Picture" 1986. Arlene is a filmmaker who shoots still photographs, performs the open mic, sings, takes modern dance and jazz dance classes. In the future she aspires to produce-write a feature drama, documentary, make an animation, and create Tourquoise Filmmaker: Indigenous Woman's Filmmaker Screening & Dialogue, an Indigenous Woman Filmmakers' Conference and a non-profit organization for low income and Indigenous filmmakers.

Artist Code: 417

Videography

64th Year

2014, 02:37 minutes, colour, English

Locked Doors

2013, 04:48 minutes, colour, English

Illegal Anger

2011, 03:46 minutes, colour, English

North to South

2003, 02:53 minutes, Colour, English

Women and Men Are Good Dancers

1995, 05:36 minutes, colour, Algonkian, Cree

Critical Writing

Prophesizing on the Virtual Reservation
by Michelle H. Raheja. Reservation Reelism: Redfacing, Visual Sovereignty, and Representations of Native Americans in Film, 2011. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011.
Through Native Eyes: The Emerging Native American Aesthetic
by Victor Masayesva et al. The Independent, Dec. 1994, v. 17, no. 10.
Dreaming With Eyes Open: The First Nation's Dreamspeakers Festival
by Sally Berger. The Independent, Jan. 1993, v. 16, no. 1.
Images 90: The First Nation's Dreamspeakers Festival
by Fran Gallagher-Shuebrook. C Magazine, 1991, no. 28.
Images 90: Festival of Independent Film and Video
by Lenore Keeshig-Tobias. Fuse, Fall 1990, v. 14, no. 1 & 2.