Grab, a new documentary by Billy Luther (“Miss Navajo“) will have a FREE screening followed by a Q&A with the director Thursday, September 15 at 12 noon at National Geographic Live! (1600 M Street, NW) as part of the All Roads Film Festival.


“Grab” is an intimate portrait of the little-documented Grab Day in the villages of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, who annually throw water and food items from the rooftop of a home to people standing below. A community-wide prayer of abundance, thanks, and renewal, Grab Day exists at the intersection of traditional Native and contemporary Western cultures. Luther’s film follows three families as they prepare for the annual event, chronicling their lives leading up to this day. The film was selected for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.


A photo exhibit GRAB: The People, Land, and Tradition of Laguna Pueblo will be on display in the National Geographic Grosvenor Gallery during the All Roads Film Festival (September 14 – 18, 2011) and through FotoWeek DC.


Wednesday, September 14 from noon to 4 PM, Laguna Pueblo pottery maker Josie Seymour, featured in the movie, will be in the National Geographic courtyard making and painting some of her Laguna Pueblo pottery. She will give a short talk about the tradition of Laguna Pueblo pottery making at select times (TBA) while she works. Later, between 4:30-5:00, All Roads will re-enact a Laguna Pueblo traditional Grab Day throw. This is also a free event and open to the general public.

The tradition of a Grab Day throw for the Laguna people stems from core cultural values of generosity and giving so the people live and practice reciprocity, redistribution, and respect. With many Laguna people being named for saints and along with the arrival of a saint’s feast day, families of those named for the saint practice these values by honoring that named relative with a Grab Day (throw). Food and gifts are shared among the community with boxes of instant macaroni and cheese, ramen noodles, and canned soup thrown from adobe-pueblo rooftops, as well as more traditional items such as handmade pottery and sacred offerings of water. No matter what is thrown, hands reach to the sky and clamor for the gifts. The offerings represent hope and blessings, and the honor of catching something completes the circle of redistribution and reciprocity that has existed within the pueblo villages since time immemorial.


Billy Luther studied film at Hampshire College and worked for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian Film and Video Center. A past honoree of Film Independent’s Project: Involve, Luther was recently selected for the 2006 Sundance Ford Fellowship, CPB/PBS Producers Academy at WGBH and Tribeca Institute’s All Access Program with his feature documentary MISS NAVAJO, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and won Michael Moore’s 2007 Special Founders Prize. He is in development on the documentaries Grab, The Untitled Indian Marching Band Project and Nanobah Becker’s narrative Full. Luther belongs to the Navajo, Hopi and Laguna Pueblo Tribes.


The National Geographic All Roads Film Project showcases compelling films and photography exhibits from indigenous artists. These individuals from around the world offer fresh perspectives through innovative storytelling. Enjoy this year’s festival-more than forty stori es that shape our world. Find out more about the festival and purchase tickets for events at this link: http://events.nationalgeographic.com/events/event-series/all-roads-film-festival-washington-dc/ or call 202-857-7700.