Traveling The Distance
Channel: o cohen
Date: 2013-02-19

In 1996 during the Shinnecock 50th Anniversary Labor day Pow Wow two Long Island filmmakers Ofer Cohen and Ziggy Attias  were given permission for the first time ever to film this historic event. 
"The documentary film Traveling the Distance chronicles the organization, production, execution and most importantly, its meaning to the performers. Traveling the Distance is illustrated by the filmmakers hundred mile drive from the Queens-Midtown Tunnel toll booths to the Picturesque Shinnecock Reservation, passing along the way the many Native American markers yet on the landscape-Wantagh, Hauppauge, Patchogue and so on. The film deftly cuts between evocative scenes of nature, Pow Wow participants and dancers from the Seneca Narragansett, Mashpee, Mohawk, Shinnecock and other native nations, resplendent in native regalia."says The L.I. Historical Journal... 

The documentary lets the Indians speak for themselves. There's not a lot of heavy-handed voiceover. For the most part it's the Indians doing their own talking... It gives the viewer a very personal view of what the Pow-Wow means to the participants."
says The New York Times...

"The film is an engaging, visually stunning, 54 minute excursion into the colors, sounds, sights and essence of the Pow Wow. It features dances ablaze in colorful regalia, representing spirits, animals or tribal affiliation; ancestral chanting accompanied by the ever-present beat of the drum singing the song of the universe. The film allows Native Americans from across the U.S. and Canada to tell in their own words what the Pow Wow means to them."
says The Resident 

"...the film offers a glimpse into an ancient ceremony that links present-day islanders to their Native American past."
says The Long Island Voice...
"The film justifiably won first prize in the feature documentary category at the Long Island Film Festival."