Marc Levitt’s “Stories in Stone”™, partially funded by RISCA will receive its television debut on April 2nd at 8pm on Channel 36, RIPBS

“Stories in Stone”™ is a twenty-six minute documentary about the Narragansett of Southern New England and their almost four hundred year old tradition of building stonewalls. “Stories in Stone”™, takes the seemingly prosaic task of stonewall building and demonstrates how it has helped to maintain and perpetuate tribal traditions; by continuing a family based system of apprenticeship, by providing local, independently owned outdoor work and by providing a means to continue and advance artistic expression informed by Native American iconography. Filmed in both video and film, “Stories in Stones”™ captures both the commitment of the masons and the beauty of the walls and landscape of southern New England. The film unfolds as poetically as the walls through the forest, utilizing beautiful footage and original music that expresses both the traditional and contemporary aspects of this craft. With no central narrator, “Stories in Stone”™ allows the Narragansett to tell their own story without the use of outside “experts”™.

“Stories in Stone”™ is a film that sheds light on the lesser known world of East Coast Native Americans, whose internal diversity has often been used against them in their attempts to establish “Tribal” identity. “Stories in Stone”™ is a film of beauty, of people, of resistance and a testimony to the ability of people to appropriate imposed work for their own ends.  LInk to Pictures and more info: http://marclevitt.org/filmmaker.htm Rhode Island Council for the Humanities
Rhode Island State Council for the Arts
New York State Council for the Arts
US Department of Transportation
Rhode Island Department of Transportation
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