For the fifth consecutive semester, the Palmer Museum of Art will be offering the "Come as You Are" film series at 7 p.m. on Thursdays and 1 p.m. on Sundays. As always, the coffee is free and discussion afterwards with fellow viewers is encouraged.

The focus this semester is two-fold: from September to mid-October the weekly films will all be related to images of Native Americans in film to coincide with the museum's Lewis and Clark exhibit, featuring an installation by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. Then, for the rest of the semester, the focus will shift to films relating to "Dance as a Metaphor."

"We have a mission to bring the arts to people of various backgrounds," said Robin Seymour, coordinator of membership and public relations for the museum, adding that it answers "that extra challenge to make sure you're appealing to the widest audience possible through offering films that aren't mainstream."

Emblematic of this pledge is the second film on the "Come as You Are" series, Naturally Native. Funded entirely by the Mashantucket Pequot tribe of Connecticut and shot in a mere 19 days, Native is an independent film in every sense.

Valerie Red-Horse, the Native American writer/director/producer/star of Naturally Native, will be coming to Penn State to introduce the film with a question and answer session at 6 p.m. on Sept. 12 at Palmer, followed immediately by the screening.

"I love to go to Universities," Red-Horse said in a telephone interview. "We've shown it at Harvard, Yale, Stanford...it's a great starting place for discussions on tribal issues, women's issues, class issues."

Part of the film's significance in the canon of film history is the fact that -- along with Miramax's Smoke Signals -- it represents one of the first two films written, directed, produced by, and starring Native Americans.

Though plenty of films have been made about Native Americans in the past, Red-Horse said these films failed to present a distinctive voice, "truly coming from the heart of Indian country." She said films like Dances with Wolves, while they might have artistic merit, are more often "looking at" Native Americans rather than seeing the world through their own eyes.

"Just being actors doesn't really help [Native Americans] much. It's just a paycheck. Not until we start writing and directing films, will people really begin to see the differences," between representations of Native Americans on screen and the actual day-to-day lives they lead, she said.

Bringing her vision to the screen, however, was no easy task. The day after she finally raised the money she needed from the Pequot tribe, she found out she was pregnant. It is difficult, she admitted, to be writing, directing, producing, acting and pregnant.

"I loved it and hated it," Red-Horse said of the experience, which included more than a few 20-hour days. But, the end result, she maintains, was a huge success from an artistic and emotional standpoint. "There's nothing like doing an indie feature. It's like giving birth to a child."

Despite this, Red-Horse's next project is as part of the cast and writing team of Firefly, an upcoming Fox TV series from Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon. She said the show's producers "spent more money on the first day than we did on the entire shoot of Naturally Native."

In addition to the Native American films, Palmer will also showcase a series of dance-related films this semester, including the Oscar-nominated hit Billy Elliot and Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann's debut film, Strictly Ballroom.

Seymour feels that the "Come As You Are" series serves to provide a voice where there would otherwise be silence.

"The chance that these films would play at Carmike's is slim to none," she said. "Our initiative is to bring something extra to the community."