Howdice Brown III
b. 1989 Anchorage, Alaska —
Currently the Head of Production for Channel Films, Anchorage-based Howdice Brown III has charted an unconventional path in film. A fascination with the filmmaking process, as well as deconstructing it, led him to pursue assistantships during his studies at the University of Alaska. Since then, his experience-based practice has yielded work on a range of productions from music videos to advertisements in a number of roles including Director of Photography for two segments of the Ketchikan Story Project (2009–11), an award-winning series chronicling the community of Ketchikan, AK.
In 2017 Brown worked with the Rasmuson Foundation and the Alaska Historical Society on the pilot project Alaska Treaty of Cession: Causes & Consequences, which coincided with the state’s sesquicentennial celebrations. After discovering a similar video made for Alaska’s centennial in the archives and noticing a distinct lack of Indigenous perspectives, Brown’s take is a tense, gritty and gripping story that combines archival images with contemplative scenes of landscapes alongside a number of interviews. The resulting short captures a range of perspectives on the issues surrounding the United States’ purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867.
Recently, he has begun stepping out of this more commercial world. “One thing that really fascinates me are projects that can reflect what’s happening now,” he says. “I like these pieces that time-stamp where we are at.” With this interest in mind, Brown has set his sights on capturing the contours of Alaska’s Indigenous cultural scene in hopes of profiling multiple voices across multiple platforms. “I like the idea of being here and being a part of these kinds of projects. You can’t get that anywhere else.” – Evan Pavka