June is National Pride Month (US and Canada)
June is National Indigenous Heritage Month (Canada)
July 14, 2023 is Matariki, the Maori New Year. A national holiday in Aotearoa/New Zealand, its date is determined annually to align with the reappearance of the Pleiades in the night sky.
TV Broadcast and Streaming
Reservation Dogs
The Hulu series’ first season is now being broadcast on FX on cable TV. Two episodes a week will be aired at 10 pm ET/PT for four weeks, starting Monday, June 26, finishing a couple of weeks ahead of the show’s third season premiere on Aug 2 on Hulu.
Spirit Rangers
Netflix has released the second season of the animated series by Karissa Valencia (Santa Ynez Chumash). The series originally premiered on Indigenous Peoples’ Day last October and has an all-Indigenous writer’s room, with each episode featuring traditional stories and songs from the communities of the writers.
Little Bird
This Canadian TV series premiered in May on Crave and APTN lumi. It centers on a First Nations woman who was adopted into a Jewish family during Canada’s Sixties Scoop, as she attempts to reconnect with her birth family and heritage. Created by Jennifer Podemski and Hannah Moscovitch, starring Darla Contois Esther Rosenblum/Bezhig Little Bird, with episodes directed Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Zoe Hopkins.
12th Annual PBS Short Film Festival
July 10-21. Streams on PBS and other platforms. Selections TBA
ICT Newscasts
Online and also broadcast on Free Speech TV, usually on local public TV stations. Recent coverage includes commentary on the Supreme Court’s affirming the Indian Child Welfare Act and a conversation with recent Bush Fellow Joe Williams, director of Native American Programs at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo.
FILMS and FESTIVALS
Online, Hybrid
NFB/National Film Board of Canada
Indigenous Cinema Online
Ongoing online. Membership is free (register online)
NFB offers a rich online collection of Indigenous cinema–documentaries, animations, interactives–made between 1968 and 2022. Two new feature documentaries filmed in the North–Ever Deadly and Voices across the Waters–and a new interactive, Similkameen Crossroads, are included. In June the NFB launched 4 curated channels drawing from this to observe Indigenous History Month and Pride Month–“Wapikoni Mobile”, “Transmission of Indigenous Knowledge,” “Indigenous-Make Animations” and “2SLGBTQI+”.
In all, the NFB website now features more than 6,000 online films (Indigenous and non-), as well as a collection of over 100 interactive works. Viewing is available outside of Canada. It is very easy to access films on the NFB website, which includes an interactive catalog of Indigenous films.
Tribeca Festival – Films Online
Last Day July 2. Tickets. Online on standard apps like Roku and Apple TV, and on a stand-alone app for TRibon IOS and Android.
Hey Viktor! World premiere. Narrative feature. Canada. Cody Lightning (Cree). It’s been 25 years since all eyes were on the Cree kid from Edmonton who made it big with a role in the indie hit Smoke Signals, recognized as the first contemporary Indigenous film in US. Now grown up, the former child actor Cody Lightning is down on his luck. When his friends stage an intervention, Cody seizes the moment–and the camera crew to take on last shot at producing Smoke Signals 2. An irreverent comedy as smart as it is raunchy. With rich supporting turns from Irene Bedard, Gary Farmer, Simon Baker, and even the wig worn by Adam Beach. Lightning strikes a balance between riffing on the work of a previous generation and the importance of community (from Cedar Sherbert).
Je’vida World premiere. Narrative feature. Finland. Katie Gauriloff (Sámi). In Finnish Skolt Sámi, with English subtitles. When embittered Sámi elder Je’vida returns to her childhood home to ready it for sale, she is flooded with memories of a life shaped by deep systemic racism as well as the unyielding love of her grandfather, leading to a life-changing epiphany (from Cedar Sherbert)
Frameline47 – Online
This Place
Last Day July 2. Tickets. Online in California This Place Narrative feature. Canada. V.T. Nayani. In English, French, Persian, Mohawk, Tamil. What does it mean to belong to a place, a tribe, a family? Two women — one Tamil, the other half Mohawk, half Iranian — search for answers to these questions and more as they meet, explore the city of Toronto, and slowly begin to fall in love. Executive produced, co-written, and starring Devery Jacobs (Film Independent Spirit Award winner for Reservation Dogs), the film speaks to the struggles of identity, the creative process, family and the universal search for love and acceptance
Doc Edge
Last Day July 9. Online in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Pacific Mother Feature documentary. Japan, New Zealand. Katherine McRae. The filmmaker follows Sachiko Fukumoto, as she connects with women from around the Pacific–Hawai’i, Tahiti, the Cook Islands, and Aotearoa–to explore birthing knowledge and the connection between caring for the planet and the nurturance of parents and their children.
Sailau Feature documentary. Australia. Thor F. Jensen. Danish explorer and director Jenson and three Papuan sailors embark on their world-first attempt to circumnavigate the island of New Guinea, all in a traditional Papuan sailing canoe.
The Endangered Generation? Feature documentary. Australia. Celeste Beer. Exploring the impact of climate change on cultural heritage and traditions, this film features cultural leaders including Maori and First Nations representatives and Indigenous leaders from central Panama, as well as scientists and environmental activists.
Jackson Wild – World Wildlife Day Showcase
“Indigenous Stories”
Ongoing. Free. Streaming on Eventive. After unlocking, 30 days to finish watching.
This encore screening from Jackson Wild, one of the programs originally curated for World Wildlife Day in March, consists of seven films from diverse regions and peoples: The Ghost Rainforest, Aguilucho: Dance of the Harpy Eagle, The Lost Salmon, Seagrass for Sea Change, Living with Lions,The Letter: A Message for Our Earth, Saving the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
DCEFF/Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital
Watch Now: “Indigenous Voices”
“Indigenous Voices” is a section of more than 50 films In the DCEFF catalog of 300+ films now online that have been programmed in previous festivals. Some films stream on the DCEFF website. Some are available on third-party platforms such as Hulu that may require a subscription or pay per view.
FILMS and FESTIVALS
In-person
MoCNA/IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
Imagining the Indian
Fri, June 30. In-person at MoCNA in Santa Fe.
Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting Documentary feature. US. Aviva Kempner, Ben West (Cheyenne). Using archival footage, and fascinating interviews the film takes a deep dive into the movement to eliminate the use of Native American slurs, names, logos, images and gestures that many Native American and their allies find demeaning and offensive. Following the screening a panel discussion with the directors Ben West and Aviva Kempner, producers Kevin Blackistone and Yancey Burns, and interviewee Rick West (Cheyenne).
Indigenous Film and Arts Festival – Monthly Series
Oyate
Wed, July 12, In-person at Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Oyate Documentary feature. US. Brandon Jackson, Emil Benjamin. In 2016 the world turned its eyes to the people of Standing Rock as they formed a coalition of unprecedented magnitude to defend their land and water from the threat of the Dakota Access Pipeline. In this documentary Indigenous activists, organizers, and politicians offer their perspectives and illuminate the interconnectivity of the issues facing Indian Country today. Featuring Chase Iron Eyes, Phyllis Young, Deb Haaland, and more. Post screening discussion with film producer/story supervisor Jennifer Martel, moderated by Danielle SeeWalker, Commissioner, Denver American Indian Commission.
Weengushk International Film Festival
July 14-18. Tickets. In-person on Manitoulin Island in Northern Ontario
July 14 Opening Night. Bones of Crows Narrative feature. Canada. Marie Clements, preceded by Rose (dir Roxann Whitebean) and followed by live music event featuring Murray Porter.
July 15 Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On Documentary feature. Canada. Madison Thomas.
Short films program includes Journey to Our Homeland (dir Adrien Harpelle), Ajjigiingiluktaaqtugut (We Are All Different) (dir Lindsay McIntyre), Indigenous Resistance: Now and Then, Wáats’asdiyei (dir Joe Yates), Northern Comfort: A Drive Around Town (dir Mélanie Lameboy), Mawhialeo Ote Alowha: Our Love (dir.Valeriya Golovina)
July 16 Rosie Narrative feature. Gail Maurice, Preceded by A Boy and His Loss (dir Michelle Derosier), with Q&A with director Gail Maurice. Followed by live music event featuring Gary Farmer and the Troublemakers, Derek Miller, Keith Secola, Vern Cheechoo and Leland Bell.
NATIVE CREATIVITY
Theater, A Gathering, Poetry Workshop
ART/Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, OR has announced the 2023/24 season, the first season under new Artistic Director, Jeanette Harrison’s leadership. Harrison is the first known Native woman to hold the title of Artistic Director in the League of Resident Theaters (LORT). The plays will be Pueblo Revolt by Dillon Christopher Chitto, The Hot Wing King by Katori Hall, A Boarding School Play by Blossom Johnson, and Sapience by Diane Burbano.
The Public Theater in New York City has announced it will present Mary Katherine Nagle’s Manahatta, opening on November 16. The play takes place in present day Oklahoma, as well as present day and 17th century Manhattan.
Abrons Art Center
“Kinstillatory Mappings in Light and Dark Matter”
Thurs, July 20. Free. In-person in New York City. The ceremonial fire gatherings produced by Emily Johnson and Karyn Recollet continue, centered on Indigenous protocol and knowledge with guest artists and activists.
Poets House
re/vision: Online Workshop with Joan Naviyuk Kane
Sun, July 9, 12-3 pm EDT. Paid registration, some financial aid available. An online poetry-writing workshop with award-winning poet Joan Naviyuk Kane (Inupiaq). After several years of coping with “unprecedented times,” this generative and revision-inclined workshop will offer concrete approaches to replenishing the creative process through close-reading, presenting tried-and-true writing exercises, and putting revision at easier reach.
EXHIBITIONS
Museums and Public Art
Heard Museum
“The North Star Changes: Works by Brenda Mallory”
Through Feb 5, 2024. Tickets. In-person in Phoenix
The exhibition features sculptures that Brenda Mallory (Cherokee Nation) has made using reclaimed and found objects, some taking the form of large-scale installations. Mallory describes her process as bricolage—something constructed or created from a diverse range of available things. In some of her mixed-media works, she has cut apart and reformed linen fire hoses into composed wall hangings, has sliced open spools of industrial thread to form fields of color, and has worked with reclaimed drive belts of various types to create linear “drawings” that are rich in texture and pattern. This exhibition is based on the idea that humans perceive the North Star as permanent. Currently, Polaris is the North Star, but over the course of thousands of years, different stars assume the position and the name. Permanence becomes impermanence, and Mallory notes, “The idea of things changing has always been in my work.”
Heard Museum
“Substance of Stars” Immersive Indigenous Storytelling/360˚ Sky-Dome
Ongoing. Tickets. In-person in Phoenix
The exhibition is the culmination of a three-year collaboration with four Indigenous communities, examining the collection of the Heard Museum from Indigenous perspectives, across a wide variety of media and time periods. It incorporates Indigenous languages, sky knowledge, and spiritual values, and includes elements of the origin stories that form Native identities. It includes the O’odham, whose traditional lands include modern-day Phoenix, Arizona, where the Heard Museum sits; and the Diné whose homeland, Dinétah, extends across what is today the states of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. It also includes Alaskan Arctic cultures, emphasizing the Central Yup’ik, and Haudenosaunee culture, with emphasis on the Seneca who live in what is now New York State. Substance of Stars also includes a special video installation in the Sky-Dome, an immersive gallery environment in which images and sounds from the natural landscape surround the visitor, and which includes fundamental origin stories and sky knowledge.
To represent each Native nation included, at least two Indigenous curators and historians representing each group have collaborated on the exhibition. They include elders, artists, scholars, linguists and traditional knowledge-keepers, and their names and contributions to the project are listed on the exhibition’s webpage. New works by contemporary indigenous artists have been commissioned for the exhibition and are featured prominently. These include works by Marie Watt (Seneca), Thomas “Breeze” Marcus (Tohono O’odham), Dwayne Manuel (Onk Akimel O’odham), and Steven Yazzie (Diné), as well as a range of contemporary and traditional arts drawn from the Heard’s permanent collection.
MoCNA/Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
“Rick Rivet: Journeys, Mounds and the Metaphysical”
Feb 10-July 16. In-person in Santa Fe
Born in the remote area of Aklavik, Northwest Territories, in the Canadian Arctic, and growing up in a Métis family of First Nations and European descent, Rick Rivet’s (Sahtu/Métis) acrylic and mixed-media paintings are influenced by Indigenous cultures, ancient shamanic and spiritual traditions, and modern art movements such as Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism.
FAM/First Americans Museum
“200 Years of Doctrine of Discovery: Johnson v. M’Intosh and the Indian Removal Act”
Mar 10-Aug 31. Free. In-person in Oklahoma City
First Americans Museum and the University of Oklahoma Law School Library present an exhibition featuring highly significant historical documents never shown publicly
“This exhibit is concerned with the US Supreme Court decision establishing the Doctrine of Discovery and the legal foundation for the Indian Removal Act,” said Dr. heather ahtone (Choctaw, Chickasaw Nation), FAM Director of Curatorial Affairs. “In addition, the exhibit shows the history of the Peoria and Chickasaw Nations as critical to U.S. history and provides an introduction to federal Indian law.”
New York University Schwartz Plaza
“KŪKULU: Pillars Standing Together”
May 10-Oct 31. In-person at NYU
This vitrine exhibition is the eleventh installment of “KŪKULU,” a traveling art exhibition honoring the pillars of Mauna Kea, those trying to protect this sacred site in Hawai’I that is also the tallest mountain (from the ocean floor) in the world. Co-curated by Pua Case and Lehuanani DeFranco, and sponsored by the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU and Mauna Kea Education and Awareness
More Contemporary Exhibitions
Go to the websites for full descriptions and more.
Bard Graduate Center in New York City
“Shaped by the Loom: Weaving Worlds in the American Southwest
Through July 9. Tickets. In-person in New York City
Counterpublic in St. Louis
Through July 15. Free. Outdoors. Includes five Indigenous art installations and performances in St. Louis (and interactive).
Heard Museum in Phoenix
“He‘e Nalu: The Art and Legacy of Hawaiian Surfing”
Through July 16. Tickets. In-person in Phoenix
Scandinavia House in New York City
“Arctic Highways – Unbounded Indigenous People”
Through July 22. Free. In-person in New York City
Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City
“Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map”
Through Aug 13. Tickets. In-person in New York City
Museum of Contemporary Art Denver
“Anna Tsouhlarakis: Indigenous Absurdities”
June 14-Sept 10. Tickets. In-person in Denver
Seneca Art & Culture Museum in Victor, NY
“WAMPUM/OTGOÄ”
Mar 25-Sept 16. Tickets. In-person at Ganondagan State History Site, Victor, NY
The Public Art Fund – Brooklyn Bridge Park
“Nicholas Galanin: In every language there is Land | En cada lengua hay una Tierra”
May 16-Nov 12. Free. In-person in Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City
Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College
“Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-determination Since 1969”
June 24-Nov 26. Tickets. In-person in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
National Museum of the American Indian in New York City
“Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch”
May 27, 2023–Jan 1, 2024. Free. In-person in New York City
National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.
“Robert Houle: Red Is Beautiful”
May 25, 2023–June 2, 2024. Free. In-person in Washington, DC
TALKING ABOUT
Film, Art, Fashion, Activism
In-person, Online
Toronto Film School
“Interview with Jennifer Podemski”
TFS recently hosted Jennifer Podemski, the 2023 recipient of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television’s Board of Directors Tribute Award, in a special live “In Conversation” with the school’s President, Andrew Barnsley. This article contains excerpts from their 90-min. conversation as Podemski shares insights from her 30-year career.
“Native Guy in a Vest and Tie”
“Interview with Billy Luther”
In his YouTube series Vincent Schilling (Mohawk) interviews filmmaker Billy Luther (Navajo, Hopi, Laguna Pueblo) about his recent film and creative practice. First posted online: March 12, 2023
“Notes from America with Kai Wright”
“Joy Harjo and Native Stories”
Joy Harjo discusses with podcast host Kai Wright her creative life and her new children’s book, Remember, adapted from her poem of the same name. Originally aired live on May 11, 2023.
Seneca Art & Culture Museum
WAMPUM/OTGOÄ Artist Talk
July 8. Tickets. In-person at Ganondagon State Historic Site in Victor, NY
This month artist Jamie Jacobs (Tonawanda Band of Senecas), one of five contemporary artists in the exhibition, is discussing “Repatriating & Repatriating” historic Seneca arts.
“5 Plain Questions” Podcast: “Jeffrey Gibson”
Nia Tero shares on its website an episode in its online Seedcast series from 5 Plain Questions, a podcast hosted by Joe Williams (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate). In this episode Joe talks with artist Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Cherokee heritage), who speaks about the progression of his art, and also about the sharing of resources, that makes a difference for so many Indigenous peoples, for collective benefit. 5 Plain Questions is a project of the Plains Art Museum in Fargo.
Harvard Radcliffe Institute and Mahindra Humanities Center
“Art, Activism, and Climate Change: A Conversation with Leanne Betasamosake Simpson”
In a series of virtual programs on YouTube, leading figures in the arts and humanities engage in conversations about their commitment to art and activism as a means to combat climate change. The first program features Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Alderville First Nation) in conversation with Tania Willard. Simpson is an independent scholar, writer and artists who has taught at universities in US and Canada using Nishnaabeg intellectual practices and is the 2021 recipient of the Prism Prize’s Willie Dunn Award. Tania Willard, of mixed Secwepemc and settler ancestry, is an artist, whose practice activates connection to land, culture and family. She has been recognized with prestigious awards and in 2022 she was named a Forge Project Fellow. Originally online on Jan 23, 2023.
NMAI
Youth in Action: “Wearing Our PRIDE”
Juventud en acción: “Luciendo nuestro ORGULLO”
On-demand. In English with English and Spanish captions
Fashion is often used to confirm identities, challenge social structures, and display. Discover the joy of fashion in our conversation celebrating PRIDE month with Angel Aubichon (Cree, Métis), Alex Manitopyes (Cree, Anishinaabe), Adrian Stevens (Northern Ute, Shoshone-Bannock, San Carlos Apache), and Sean Snyder (Navajo, Southern Ute). Moderated by Vogue editor Christian Allaire (Ojibwe). Presented live on June 1, 2023.
Awards and Honors
Sundance Institute Indigenous Program
The Sundance Institute has announced the largest endowment gift in its history, a $4 million dollar endowment to the Institute’s Indigenous Program from the Federated Indians of Granton Rancheria (FIGR). The opportunities created will provide support for Indigenous artists from California-based tribes, both federally and non-federally recognized. It will create a new fellowship for emerging and mid-career creatives and the creation of scholarships for the Sundance Collab, the Institute’s digital learning space for artists from around the world.
2023 Peabody Awards – Nominations
The Board of Jurors has announced the nominees for the Peabody Awards. The Award Ceremonies, mostly scheduled for June, have been postponed until resolution of the WGA/Writers Guild of America strike.
Among those nominated are:
“Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s” – Podcast/Radio. Investigative journalist Connie Walker delves into her own family history and uncovers the trauma passed down through generations as part of one of Canada’s darkest chapters, the residential school system for indigenous children, showing the ways that personal secrets and national shame reinforce one another. Spotify & Gimlet Media (Spotify)
Reservation Dogs – Entertainment. The Reservation Dogs teens continue to pursue their California dreams while struggling to mend their relationships with each other and facing down more grown-up problems, from dying loved ones to making a living, in the masterful second season of TV’s first all-Indigenous series. FX Productions (FX)
Our Flag Means Death – Entertainment. This is, indeed, a historical queer pirate rom-com. The series follows Stede Bonnet, a Barbadian aristocrat (Rhys Darby), as he leaves his life behind to become a pirate, leads a crew, and falls in love with the notorious Blackbeard (Taika Waititi). HBO Max in association with Waititi, Human Animals and DIVE (HBO Max)
The Territory – Documentary. This immersive documentary looks deeply and freshly at the tireless fight of the Amazon’s Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people against the encroaching deforestation brought by farmers and illegal settlers. National Geographic Documentary Films
2023 BAVC MediaMaker Fellowship
Paige Bethman (Haudenosaunee) with Remaining Native
2023 Film Independent Doc Labs Fellowship
Amanda Erickson (born for the San Carlos Apache, White Water Clan) with She Cried That Day
2023 Sundance Institute Fellows and Projects
Native Lab
- Eva Grant (St’át’imc First Nation, South and West Asian, European), writer-director with Degrees of Separation
- Quinne Larsen (Chinook), writer, with Trouble
- Anpa’o Locke (Afro-Indigenous: Hunkpapa Lakota, Ahtna Dene), writer, with Growing Pains
- Jane Schmieding (Cheyenne River Lakota), writer-producer-actor with Auntie Chuck
- Cian Elyse White (Te Arawa), writer-director with Te Puhi
Sundance Women to Watch x Adobe Fellowship
- Fox Maxy (Kumeyaay, Payómkawichum)
Documentary Edit and Story Lab
- Paige Bethman (Haudenosaunee) and Stephanie Khoury with Remaining Native
2023 Mendocino Film Festival
Town Destroyer (dir. Alan Snitow, Deborah Kaufman. Exec. Prod: Peggy Berryhill (Muscogee Creek)) won the festival’s Special Jury Prize for Social Impact and was the Audience Choice Runner Up.
2023 deadCenter Film Festival
- 2023 Film ICON Award: Erica Tremblay
- Best Narrative FeatureandBest Indigenous Feature: Fancy Dance dir. Erica Tremblay
- Best Indigenous Short: Dead Bird Hearts dir. Ryan RedCorn
- Best Documentary: Bad Press dirs. Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler
- Best Oklahoma Feature Film: Dadiwonisi (We Will Speak) dirs. Schon Duncan, Michael McDermit
2023 Julia Child Award
Recognition by the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts of those who have an impact on the American culinary scene:
Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota), owner of Owamni by the Sioux Chef in Minneapolis and co-founder of the nonprofit North American Traditional Food Systems and its Indigenous Food Lab
*The title of Our Flag Means Death has been corrected