FILMS
BYRD 1933
Premiere: Wexner Center for the Arts 10.20.2015
Culled from ten reels of 35mm film found in the papers of Admiral Richard E. Byrd and recently preserved by the National Film Preservation Foundation, Byrd 1933 is a glorious cinematic record of the famed explorer’s expeditions in 1928–30 and 1933–35. This unprecedented visual diary, shot by Paramount Studios cameramen, was largely a silent film with some short studio recreations. Through extensive archival research in Byrd’s own papers, filmmaker Pamela I. Theodotou has painstakingly cataloged film clips using the scripts for Byrd’s lectures, crafting a film that captures the expedition as a whole. Byrd’s own voice and the environmental and animal sounds of Antarctica originally recorded by scientists on the expedition can be heard in the film thanks to audio found in and adapted from Ohio State’s Byrd Papers archive.
Warriors from the Reservation (2015)
This documentary film captures the warrior tradition among the Oglala Sioux and their experience as Native American Veterans of American Wars. Filmed on the reservation veterans are featured and describe their wartime experiences through the eyes of their traditions as warriors.
Warriors are not what you think of as warriors. The warrior is not someone who fights, because no one has the right to take another life. The warrior, for us, is one who sacrifices himself for the good of others. His task is to take care of the elderly, the defenseless, those who can not provide for themselves, and above all, the children, the future of humanity. –– Sitting Bull
Photojournalists Svetlana Bachevanova and Anthony Karen, along with writer KJ Wetherholt and filmmaker Pamela Theodotou have taken on a project, Warriors from the Reservation, “depict[ing] the warrior tradition among the Lakota Sioux of the Pine Ridge Reservation and the modern experience as Native American Veterans in American wars, including through to Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Following the warrior tradition of the Lakota people, they have countless times, served the US military in battle despite the unfair history of US treatment of Native Americans. Evidence has shown that additionally, American Indian Veterans have had the highest rate of PTSD of any ethnic group, compounded by the barriers they face for receiving care.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-silent-epidemic_b_6906066
Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center (2019)
The Byrd Center conducts research around the world, investigating our planet's cryosphere and climate system. Thanks to our members collecting field and lab video, we have been able to share a glimpse of their work.
This video was created by media specialist and independent filmmaker Pamela I. Theodotou.
Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center (2020)
Join us in reflecting on the evolution of the Byrd Center over the last 60 years and celebrating some of our research milestones as we look toward the future.
This video was created by media specialist and independent filmmaker Pamela I. Theodotou.