Essential Voyage: Indigenous wisdom will save us all

“Essential Voyage” is an “experimental cinematic short” [3] that comically challenges colonialism, consumerism, and capitalism with new rules for Passport Control at international airports, using Chicago O'Hare International Airport (IL, USA) as the prototype. The short film is born out of Native American wisdom and scripted from Indigenous ideologies, committed to the lessons of those who continue to sustain and protect North American lands, despite colonization. This short film follows the jarring yet eye-opening experience of a rushed business traveler who arrives at O'Hare's Passport Control unaware of the new rules (effective 2021-3033.) The “Traveler” is infuriated upon learning that they need to pass a lengthy “Grounding Program,” which will evaluate their ethics, intelligence, hygiene habits, racial and political opinions, and require them to quarantine for infectious diseases before being allowed entry into Chicago for their business purposes. The Traveler feels the program itself is an ethical violation. Throughout the mandatory program, quarantined in a special wing of the airport, they are inundated with the current reality of issues in Chicago, and their global connections. Nodding to “A Clockwork Orange,” the Grounding Program feels like torture, and once released from the program the Traveler is not sure that they want to fulfill their original business purposes [2]. They return home, feeling lost and disappointed with the qualities of life in their own hometown.