OHERO:KON - UNDER THE HUSK follows two Mohawk girls on their journey to become Mohawk women.

2017 | 27 minutes | Color | English/Mohawk | Order No. 171202

SYNOPSIS

OHERO:KON - UNDER THE HUSK follows two Mohawk girls on their journey to become Mohawk women. Friends since childhood, Kaienkwinehtha and Kasennakohe are members of the traditional community of Akwesasne on the U.S./Canada border. Together, they undertake a four-year rite of passage for adolescents, called Oheró:kon, or “under the husk.” The ceremony had been nearly extinct, a casualty of colonialism and intergenerational trauma; revived in the past decade by two traditional leaders, it has since flourished. Filmmaker Katsitsionni Fox has served as a mentor, or “auntie,” to many youth going through the passage rites. In UNDER THE HUSK, Fox shares two girls’ journey through adolescence, as they rise to the tasks of Oheró:kon, learning traditional practices such as basket making and survival skills as well as contemporary teachings about sexual health and drug and alcohol prevention. UNDER THE HUSK is a personal story of a traditional practice challenging young girls spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically, shaping the women they become.

PRESS

"The film is a gift to non-natives, giving us a view into a rich and sustainable culture which values girls and women."

Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner Author, Sisters in Spirit

"In an age where traditions are increasingly sacrificed for contemporary life, UNDER THE HUSK defiantly preserves the sacred."

Daune Ronehkwá'che Brayboy-Williams Tuscorora

"Empowering! Every women I've spoken to over the age of 25 has echoed the sentiment, "I wish we had something like that when i was growing up. Exponential healing for the whole family."

Linda Karonhienhawe Delormier Kahnawake Mohawk

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • American Indian Film Festival
  • ReFRAME Film Festival
  • imagineNATIVE, Best Emerging Filmmaker
  • Canadian Diversity Film Festival, Best Short Documentary
  • Taos Shortz Film Festival
  • First Nations Film and Video Festival
  • Los Angeles Skins Film Festival

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Katsitsionni Fox

Katsitsionni has been making films since 2003 in the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne, where she resides. Her film “Ohero:kon - Under the Husk,” following the journey of two Mohawk girls as they take part in their traditional passage rites to becoming Mohawk Women, received funding from Vision Maker Media and was broadcast on many PBS stations. Katsitsionni received the Jane Glassco Award for Emerging Filmmaker at the imagineNATIVE Film Festival in 2016 as well as the Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking Award at LA Skins Fest in 2016. She produced a series of twelve short segments for REMATRIATION, a Native American women's online, multi-media magazine, that is focused on healing and empowerment of Native women through the sharing of their stories and successes.  Her latest documentary, WITHOUT A WHISPER, is an untold story of how Native American women helped to inspire the struggle of American women’s suffrage movement in the United States. (09/20)

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