Special Screening: Seed Warriors by Rebekka Schlichting
This special screening features the work of Rebekka Schlichting. In her film, she follows a group of seed keepers as they work to regain food sovereignty in their ancestral homelands of Nebraska. By reclaiming their sacred corn seeds, they seek to return to the healthy, traditional lifeways of the Pawnee people.
About the Speaker
Rebekka Schlichting
An enrolled member of the Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, Rebekka Schlichting is a filmmaker and owner of Native Storytelling Nation, LLC. In 2023, she directed, produced and wrote the documentary Seed Warriors, which will broadcast on Nebraska Stories and PBS Digital Studios on May 18. The world premiere was held at the world Indigenous Maoriland Film Festival in New Zealand, and it is playing at various festivals in the U.S.
Rebekka is also an assistant professor of the practice at the University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications where she teaches writing, ethics, and a variety of video classes. She’s an adjunct for Nebraska Indian Community College where she teaches multimedia journalism. She co-directs the KU School of Journalism summer Native Storytelling Workshop for Native American high school students. She serves on the Lawrence Arts and Culture Commission, the Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska Culture Committee and heads the Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska Annual Powwow.
Rebekka served as the assistant director and interim director at Vision Maker Media where she managed, wrote and reviewed BIPOC film and multimedia grants, promoted Indigenous films and led filmmaker workshops and events. While at VMM, she was named “40 under 40” by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development.
Before her professional documentary work, she was an adjunct professor and graduate teaching assistant at the University of Nebraska's College of Journalism and Mass Communications. As an adjunct at UNL, Rebekka co-taught ‘Wounds of Whiteclay’ and is a recipient of the 2017 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. In 2019, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame Induction by the University of Nebraska Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center. In graduate school, Rebekka directed the Sovereign Native Youth Leadership Academy at the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs. During her undergraduate career at KU, Rebekka debuted two short documentaries at the Vision Maker Media Film Festival and won First and Second Place for “Best Feature Story” in TV/Online by NAJA in 2014.
Rebekka graduated from KNS in 2010.