Three Stone Blades
odd: label: General
content: Local Numbers: HSFA 2003.5.74
setName: label: See more items in
content: Matanuska-Susitna School District educational film collection
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Film reel (color sound; 576 feet, 16mm)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1971
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Film reels
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Edited film, directed by Valene Smith, is a live action dramatization of an Inupiat legend of the Bering Strait region (filmed near Pt. Hope, Alaska). The legend tells the story of a selfish woman whose husband leaves her to become the provider for his dead brother's family which is the basis for a custom known as "the levirate". A shaman scene introduces Inupiat faith when the desperate widow encounters the abandoned summer tent camp and finds spiritual guidance. The script, sets and actors are authentic to the story told by Aniviaq (Freda Goodwin) of Kotzebue, Alaska, to the director.