Panel on MMIWG Crisis to take place after premiere of “1200+.”

FARGO, N.D. (November 16, 2018) – Following the North Dakota premiere of “1200+” at the 2018 North Dakota Human Rights Film Festival, a panel discussion about the Missing Indiginous Women and Girls Crisis will take place.

Moderated by Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, director of the Tribal and Indigenous Peoples Studies Program at North Dakota State University, the panel will include local legal experts, human rights advocates and the filmmakers of “1200+”.

Panelists for the discussion include:

BJ Jones, Chief Judge of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate; Lisa Brunner, member of the White Earth Ojibwe Nation and 2016 Bush Fellow; Shelia North, former Grand Chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and Producer of “1200+”; and Leonard Yakir, Director and Producer of “1200+”.

“1200+” focuses on a region in Canada where the Indigenous community has been tragically impacted by Indigenous women and girls being victims of violence and murder. The documentary was created and produced by journalist Sheila North, who is the former Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, and filmmaker Leonard Yakir.The RCMP claim there are over 1,200 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada. Family and friends claim up to 3,000. The film ‘1200+’ is seen through the eyes of journalist Sheila North, who has made it her passion to get to the bottom of MMIWG. Sheila examines how and why these women and girls go missing and draws on the similarities of their circumstances.

“1200+” will have its North Dakota premiere at the evening session of the 2018 North Dakota Human Rights Film Festival on Friday, November 16 at the Fargo Theatre. The evening session begins at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $15 at the door, and $2 for Seniors and Students.

The mission of the North Dakota Human Rights Film and Arts Festival is to educate, engage, and facilitate discussion around local and world-wide human rights topics through the work of filmmakers and artist. 2018 is the second year for both the film and art festivals.

The 2018 North Dakota Human Rights Film and Arts Festival is made possible through the generosity of the Consensus Council, the City of Fargo’s Human Relations Commission, the City of Fargo’s Native American Commission, the Awesome Foundation: Cass Clay, and The High Plains Reader, and through partnerships with Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, the NDSU Memorial Gallery, the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition. The Fargo screening of the film “Home.” was funded in part by Humanities North Dakota, a nonprofit, independent state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in the screening of “Home.” do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities North Dakota or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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