National Hispanic Heritage Month (US)
September 15 – October 15
Native American Day (California and Nevada)
September 24
Orange Shirt Day (Canada))
September 30
Indigenous Peoples’ Day (US and Canada)
October 9
FILM SCREENINGS and FESTIVALS
Hybrid, Online
27th Inffinito Brazilian Film Festival
Sept 16-30. Available in Brazil and US. Streaming online. Free with online registration
“Indigenous Films” Eight documentaries and 2 sci-fi features from Brazil are streaming–for free–in this annual Brazilian film festival (N.B. – to screen other online films requires purchase of a pass).
IDA/International Documentary Association
Members’ Screening Series
Oct, Nov. Hybrid. Online in US and in-person in Los Angeles. Free. For members of International Documentary Association & AMPAS members only. Membership is at various level of benefits
Feature documentary
Oct 9-16. Lakota Nation vs. United States The Lakota fight to protect their sacred land. A documentary that focuses on a land and a people who have survived removal, exploitation and genocide – and the future.
Short documentaries
Oct 8-16 Mãri hi – the Tree of Dream Short film. When the flowers of the Mãri tree blossom, dreams arise. The words of a great shaman guide an oneiric experience through the synergy between cinema and the Yanomami dream, presenting poetics and teachings of the forest people
Nov 12-18 Waorani: Guardians of the Amazon For thousands of years, the Waorani women of the Ecuadorian Amazon have lived in perfect harmony with Mother Earth in the most biodiverse spot on the planet: the Yasuní. Until now – the sacred place that grandmothers, daughters, and granddaughters have cherished as home stands under grave threat.
Heartland International Film Festival
Oct 5-15. Tickets. Hybrid. In-person in Indianapolis. Online in US.
Online only
Patrol Documentary feature. Nicaragua. Camilo De Castro Belli, Brad Allgood. Illegal cattle ranching poses an existential threat to one of the most biodiverse regions in Central America. The film follows the Rama-Kriol peoples’ efforts to save this precious ecosystem before it’s too late.
In-person only
Fancy Dance Narrative feature. US. Erica Tremblay. This moving narrative debut, set on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma, focuses on Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson), a teenager whose mom has vanished, and her Aunt Jax (Lily Gladstone). With Jax’s custody of her niece under threat, the pair hit the road to search for their missing relative,
Mill Valley Film Festival
Oct 7-16. Tickets. Hybrid. In person in California in Mills Valley, San Francisco and other locations. Online in CA with CAFilm app and via browser.
Narrative features
Fancy Dance US. Erica Tremblay. For description, see Heartland Film Festival.
The Settlers Chile. Felipe Gálvez. With a modern sensibility, haunting cinematography and an evocative score, this film follows the invasion by settlers and the devastating impact on Indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego in 1901.
Documentaries
Demon Mineral US. Hadley Austin. A penetrating look at the effects of radiation poisoning on Navajo land after decades of uranium mining.
One with the Whale US. Pete Chelkowski, Jim Wickens. The ancient ways to feed an Alaskan Yup’ik community on St. Lawrence Island and the rituals of respect for the animals is confronted by “southern” animal rights activists.
Patrol Nicaragua. Camilo De Castro Belli, Brad Allgood. For description, see Heartland Film Festival.
Water for Life US. Will Parrinello. Resistance to the often government-backed actions of large corporations to privatize natural resources is at this documentary’s heart, following Alberto Curamil, Mapuche leader in Chile; Francisco Pineda, corn-grower in El Salvador; and the late Berta Cáceres of the Lenca in Honduras–each facing overwhelming odds to simply keep the water clean for their people.
FILM SCREENINGS and FESTIVALS
In-Person in New York City, Washington DC,
Upstate NY, North Carolina
“Save the Man: Pre-Code Hollywood’s Native America”
Sept 22-24. Tickets. In-person at the Metrograph in New York City
A series curated by and with program notes by Adam Piron (Kiowa, Mohawk). Piron is Director of the Indigenous Program at Sundance Institute and a programmer for the Sundance Film Festival.
“Ahead of Martin Scorsese’s new Osage Nation-set film Killers of the Flower Moon, “Save the Man” presents an assembly of titles showcasing an overlooked trend in Pre-Code Hollywood: studio films to openly confront the contemporary consequences of this nation’s fraught history with its Indigenous peoples. Featuring a melodrama on mixed-race love, a tale of Native Alaskan revenge, a doomed Navajo Nation bordertown romance, and a violent uprising led by a Wild West Show performer against a corrupt government, these four forgotten films each reflect the era’s affinity for breaking on-screen taboos. They stand out as being both of their time and beyond the studio filmmaking of today.”
Featuring: Eskimo (1933), Laughing Boy (1934), Massacre (1934)
2023 New York Film Festival
Dau:añcut (Moving Along Image)
Sat, Oct 5. Thurs, Oct 7. In person at Lincoln Center, New York City
Dau:añcut (Moving Along Image) US. Mid-length documentary. US. Adam Piron.
Part of “Currents Program 1: Surface Tension.” In 2014 an unknown man in Ukraine tattooed a portrait of one of Adam Piron’s relatives in his traditional regalia. Stitched together from footage of the search for this man, this film interrogates what happens when the control of an image is lost.
Lakota Nation vs. United States
Now playing in theaters and streaming.
On Oct 7: In-person at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Online registration required.
Lakota Nation vs. United States Documentary feature. US. Jesse Short Bull, Laura Tomaselli. For more than 100 years, the Lakota tribe in South Dakota has maintained its quest to reclaim the Black Hills, sacred land that was taken by the US in what seems to be a clear violation of treaty agreements. The directors and writer (and acclaimed poet) Layla Long Soldier have created a fierce portrait of 21st century activism, as communities seek to repair the wrongs of the past. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition “The Land Carries Our Ancestors”
Bad Press
Now playing in theaters and festivals.
On Oct 9: In-person at Upstate Films, Rhinebeck, NY, with the filmmakers attending. Tickets
Bad Press Documentary feature. US. Rebecca Landsberry-Baker (Mvkoske Creek), Joe Peeler. When the Muscogee Nation tribal government began to interfere with the tribal newspaper an historic battle occurred that has ramifications for all of Indian country. Part of Upstate Films’ ongoing series of outstanding Indigenous films.
National Museum of the American Indian
“Shelley Niro – Film Retrospective”
Sat, Oct 7, 11 am – 5 pm EDT. Free. At NMAI in New York City
In conjunction with the art exhibition Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch (on view through Jan 1, 2024), NMAI in New York is presenting a retrospective of films directed by Shelley Niro (Six Nations Kanyen’kehá:ka [Mohawk].
11 am: Honey Moccasin Canada (1998, 49 min.) A ballad-slinging sleuth, played by Tantoo Cardinal (Métis), traces the rivalry between two reservation bars in both an ironic look at conventional film storytelling about Indigenous life and an affecting look at issues.
1 pm: Kissed by Lightning (2009, 89 min.) Inspired by an ancient Iroquois tale, this story follows a Six Nations Mohawk artist (played by Mavis Dogblood) who grieves for her lost husband. In an effort to extinguish haunting memories, she immerses herself in painting. Unexpectedly, she encounters the traditions of the past as she crosses New York State–Haudenosaunee traditional lands–to get to her upcoming art exhibition in New York City, which also forces her to consider the possibilities of the here and now.
3 pm: The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw (2019, 96 min.) As Mitzi Bearclaw (played by Morningstar Angeline) turns 25 years-old, she is faced with a hard decision – stay in the big city to pursue her dream of designing hats or return home to her isolated reserve to help care for her sick mother. Loyal to her family, Mitzi reluctantly returns to Owl Island to find that not much has changed. Her confidence and modern style clash with the sleepy, slow-paced island but is surprised to find comfort in being home and starts to question her destiny.
2023 North Carolina Latin American Film Festival
Sept 29-Oct 17. Hybrid. Tickets. In-person at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and Duke University in Durham. Some of the films will also have virtual screenings (TBC)
Documentary features
We Are Guardians Chelsea Greene, Rob Grobman, Edivan Guajajara. In Portuguese, Tupi,and English. Thousands of people are illegally setting up camp on protected landin the Brazilian Amazon, killing centuries-old trees for export and mining rare resources. The film follows Brazilian forest guardian Marçal Guajajara and activist Puyr Tembé who are protectors, an illegal logger struggling to make ends meet, and a landowner dedicated to preserving the rich ecosystem.
Dioses de México/Gods of Mexico Helmut Dosantos. No dialogue. A poetic survey of the vast landscapes and rich diversity of several communities of rural Mexico pays tribute to the land and to those preserving their traditional lives.
Polinizadorxs: Resistencia en la Peninsula de Yucatán Mexico. Lilia Torres. Testimonies from people in the Yucatán that were gathered as part of the planning for Tren Maya expose thinking about the threats faced by their territory and concerns about what will happen if the “iron Serpent” were to arrive. Preceded by Forest MindColombia/Ecuador. Ursula Biemann, Inga Community Members. Bringing the Inga’s shamanistic knowledge of Ayahuasca into dialog with the Western scientific perspective.
Narrative features
Utama Bolivia. Alejandro Loayza Grisi. In Spanish and Quechua with English subtitles. In the arid Bolivian highlands an elderly couple has been living a tranquil life for yers. When an uncommonly long drought threatens everything, Virginio and Sisa must decide whether to stay or admit defeat and move in with family members in the city.
Eami Paraguay. Paz Encina. In Spanish, Ayoreo, Guaraní, with English subtitles. For the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode people, the word “eami” means forest and world. Such twinned meaning speaks to the way this indigenous community understands the environment around them. The forest is their world. Or was. For now, the Paraguayan Chaco where they live is the territory with the highest deforestation rate in the world. Such a statistic may not be explicitly spelled out in this dreamlike feature but it nevertheless helps structure the fictionalized story of a 5-year-old girl called Eami (Anel Picanerai) who’s mourning the place she now must leave.
Indigenous Short Films Program. Deeply-held beliefs and traditions, visionary medical practices, leaving the community to search for work in the city, and resistance to the exploitation of Indigenous lands by foreign corporations are told in these films from Colombia, Peru and Ecuador.: Luna de Verano/Summer Moon Fiction. Colombia. Gustavo Ulcue (Nasa). Seyn Zare Colombia. Yosokwi Collective, Amado Villafaña (Arhuaco). MerayaPeru. Pedro Favaron (Shipibo-Konbibo) Este pais que me robaron/This Stolen Country of Mine Ecuador. Marc Weise.
“Festival Conversations: Frames of Resistance: the Cinemas of Abya Yala”
Mon, Oct 9. 3-4 pm
Amalia Córdova has published extensively on Latin American Indigenous film and video, and on the circulation of Indigenous cinema. She is the curator for World Cultures and Chair of Cultural Research and Education at the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, and is codirector of Mother Tongue Film Festival.
Thurs. Oct 12. 10-11 am
Gustavo Ulcué (Nasa) is an indigenous communicator with experience in communication and investigation processes both with indigenous communities and other social groups in Colombia. He has more than 10 years of experience as a filmmaker for indigenous peoples and organizations, and for Colombian Public Television.
CREATIVITY – Theater
In-Person in Los Angeles, New York City
Native Voices at the Autry
Where the Summit Meets the Stars
Sept 29-Oct 15. Tickets. In-person at the Autry in Los Angeles. Free for Autry Members, Veterans, Students, Native Elders with online reservations.
World Premiere. Where the Summit Meets the Stars by Frank Henry Kaash Katasse (Tlingit). When a near-death experience derails her flight through Southeast Alaska, Rose awakens to find herself in the care of the kind man who pulled her to safety. But who is this mysterious stranger? And how is it possible that she survived? As they journey by boat through the darkness and fog, Rose untangles the mysteries of her past, questions the world around her, and comes to an inescapable crossroads. Where the Summit Meets the Stars is an ethereal Alaska Native story driven by music, dance, and the culture of the Tlingit people. Starring Josephine Keefe, Duane Minard, Kholan Studi.
The Public Theater
Manahatta
Advance News: Opening Nov 15 at The Public Theater, New York City
Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle (Cherokee) Directed by Laurie Woolery. From the fur trade of the 1600s to the stock trade of today, it tells the story of Jane Snake, a brilliant young Native American woman with a Stanford MBA. Jane reconnects with her ancestral Lenape homeland, known as Manahatta, when she moves from Oklahoma to New York. The cast has been announced: Rainbow Dickerson, Elizabeth Frances, David Kelly, Jeffrey King, Enrico Nassi, Jessica Ranville, Joe Tapper, Sheila Tousey, and Rex Young.
CREATIVITY
In-Person in Washington DC, New York City
National Gallery of Art
“The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans”
Sept 22, 2023-Jan 15, 2024. Free. In-person in the NGA East Building in Washington DC.
Curated by artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation), this exhibition brings together works by an intergenerational group of nearly 50 living Native artists practicing across the United States. Through a variety of practices—including weaving, beadwork, sculpture, painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, performance, and video—these artists visualize Indigenous knowledge of land/landbase/landscape. Together, the works in The Land Carries Our Ancestors underscore the self-determination, survivance, and right to self-representation of Indigenous peoples.
“The World’s UnFair”
Sept 15-Oct 15. Outdoor installation and scheduled events. Free. In-person in Long Island City, Queens, New York. Open Thurs-Sat 12-8 with extended hours on Fridays. Open Sun 10-8.
Across an immersive spectacle of animatronics, large-scale sculptures, video installations, and powwow grounds, The World’s UnFair invites you to play a part in a decolonized future. Brought to you by New Red Order (NRO), a public secret society of informants and collaborators dedicated to rechannelling desires for indigeneity towards the expansion of Indigenous futures, The World’s UnFair offers a practical solution to growing calls for the return of Indigenous land: Give It Back. Presented by Creative Time, a presenter of innovative public art. See the New York Times article here.
The World’s UnFair – After Dark
Weaving together performance art, film screenings, noise performances, and special guests.
Fri, Sept 22, 7-10 pm EDT
Featuring KILT (Raven Chacon + Bov Bellerus), Kite,Uyarakq (Aqqalu Berthelsen), White Boy Scream, Nathan Young
Sat, Oct 14 Closing Weekend 7-10 pm EDT.
Lineup announcement coming soon!
Give It Back Gathering
Sat, Oct 7. 1-5 pm EDT
Bringing together the “Give It Backers” featured in NRO’s film Give It Back: Crimes Against Reality, alongside special guests and musical performance, for group discussion of the possibilities and increasing trend of voluntarily returning land to Indigenous communities.
- Lulani Arquestte, President and CEO of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation
- Mayor Kim Bergel, Eureka, CA
- Flint Jamison, co-founder of Yale Union
- Eunsong Kim, author, Associate Professor, Northeastern University
- Brendan Moriarty, public land professional
- Laura Ortman, musician and composer
- Libby Schaaf, former Mayor of Oakland, CA
TALKING ABOUT
In-Person, Online
Harvard University
Mahindra Humanities Center
“Indigiqueer Imaginings at the End and Beginning of Worlds”
Oct 4, 6:00 pm EDT. Free. In-person at Harvard in Cambridge, MA. Seating is limited and available on first-come, first-served basis.
This conversation with Indigenous scholar Daniel Heath Justice traces the history of rupture and witness, focusing on the urgency of Indigenous queer writing as a confrontation with “the eliminatory imperatives of resurgent Christo-colonialism.” Justice is a queer, Colorado-born citizen of the Cherokee Nation. He is Professor of Critical Indigenous Studies and English and a Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia. During the 2023-24 academic year he is a Harvard College Visiting Professor in Ethnicity, Indigeneity, and Migration.
HUNAP/Harvard Native American Program
Annual Lecture Series – now streaming
Now streaming are the first three HUNAP Annual Lectures, featuring award-winning authors Tommy Orange (Cheyenne and Arapaho) in 2023, David Treuer (Leech Lake Ojibwe) in 2022, and Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) in 2021.
