Homer, Alaska – Join Princess Daazhraii Johnson, current artist in residence at Storyknife Writer’s Retreat, for a screening of her films This Is a Story About Salmon, Gath & K’iyh, and Two Old Women at Bunnell Street Arts Center on Thursday, April 9th at 6pm, free.

This event, co-sponsored by Storyknife Writers Retreat and Bunnell Street Arts Center, will feature a screening of three short films by writer and producer Princess Daazhraii Johnson. After the screening, Johnson will discuss her work and take questions from the audience.

The film This Is a Story About Salmon explores the central role of salmon in Alaska Native subsistence communities and shows how these communities come together to support one another, heal, and bear powerful witness to their resilience and resistance. Gath & K’iyh: Listen to Heal highlights a gathering of community members and renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma to honor salmon and birch trees as part of a process of collective healing. Shaaghan Neekwaii: Two Old Women is the first screen adaptation of Velma Wallis’s 1993 novel, filmed in Fairbanks, Alaska, and told entirely in the Gwich’in language. The screening is free.

Artist bio

Princess Daazhraii Johnson (she/her) is Neets’aii Gwich’in and a Peabody Award winning producer/writer and Emmy-nominated writer/producer of PBS Kids Molly of Denali and HBO’s True Detective. She is humbled to serve on the board of Native Movement and NDN Collective – collectively, she works to protect the lands, waters, animal and plant relatives that continue to take care of all of us. Her most recent short narrative film, “Shaaghan Neekwaii” (Two Old Women) is based on Velma Wallis’ award-winning book and is entirely in Dinjii Zhuh K’yaa – the Gwich’in language.

Storyknife Writers Retreat’s mission is to give women writers the time and space to explore their craft without distraction. Storyknife provides women with a community to support their efforts, lifting their voices.

Bunnell Street Arts Center’s mission is to spark artistic inquiry, innovation and equity to strengthen the physical, social and economic fabric of Alaska.