Nóouhàh-Toka’na, known as swift fox in English, once roamed the North American Great Plains from Canada to Texas. Like bison, pronghorn and other plains animals, Nóouhàh-Toka’na held cultural significance for the Native Americans who lived alongside them. But predator control programs in the mid-1900s reduced the foxes to just 10 percent of their native range. At the Fort Belknap Indian Community in Montana, members of the Aaniiih and Nakoda tribes are working with the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute and other conservation partners to restore biodiversity and return Nóouhàh-Toka’na to the land.
A documentary that tells the story of five American Indian artists, the Urban Indian 5 (UI5), and their unique partnership.
The documentary adresses the meaning of music and the musical diversity present in Umbanda (a Brazilian religion with afroindigenous roots). With interviews with four umbandistas from Fortaleza - Ceará, Crossroads of the Sound pays reverence to the enchanted dimension where the sounds cross each other to make the spirits dance.
In late 2021, Cleveland’s baseball team was reborn as the Guardians. The documentary, directed by Lance Edmands, chronicles the saga of that name change, which has its roots in a forgotten legend named Louis Sockalexis, and the tragedy that enveloped his story more than a century ago.
A MYSTICAL GRANDFATHER transforms the life of a modern day boy through the legend of SEEKS-TO-HUNT-GREAT. In this haunting and sometimes humorous, SEEKS-TO-HUNT-GREAT (Michael Horse) tracks a mountain lion for many months, learns from it and eventually gains its trust. Struggling to survive the hardships and dangers of living in the wild, both man and lion experience many surprises, and much suspense and adventure. Based on Native American folklore and the Medicine Wheel Way, SPIRIT OF THE WILD brings an awareness of our important relationship with our environment, our Mother Earth and all our brothers be they two-legged, four-legged or winged.
At its heart, it’s a battle for homeland and sovereignty. Bears Ears, a remote section of land lined with red cliffs and filled with juniper sage, is at the center of a fight over who has a say in how Western landscapes are protected and managed.
A short documentary about Americans with Native American and Finnish heritage.
Following her brother's death, Georgia, a young college student, returns home to her reservation only to find she's become the prey of a shapeshifting, faceless figure.
Lost short film about the death of the last Aztec Emperor.
The astonishing, heartbreaking, inspiring, and largely-untold story of Native Americans in the United States military. Why do they do it? Why would Indian men and women put their lives on the line for the very government that took their homelands?
A short film highlighting the epidemic of missing indigenous men and women who have gone missing in Bighorn County, Montana. It features several victims' stories and interviews with their families and indigenous activists who are pushing for their cases to be re-examined and solved.
The collaboration between the Tanacross and Northway, Alaska communities and trained linguistic specialists from the Alaska Native Language Center to keep their native language from disappearing. And the continuation of the tangential community effort of preserving their language and culture by teaching and using them at home and in schools and in their lives.
Exploration of how the reality and resistance of Native Americans inspires the work of Pawnee artist Bunky Echo-Hawk, igniting discussions about environmentalism and Native American rights, among other topics.
Told from the perspective of contemporary Lakota people, the film explores the life of Crazy Horse (Tasunke Witko). Viewers see the natural world of the Dakotas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana that Crazy Horse knew. His spiritual nature is discussed, as are his unique qualities as a leader. The final portion of the film examines his role at the Battle of Little Bighorn, his resistance against reservation life, and his violent death at Fort Robinson in 1877. Lakota people share what Crazy Horse means in their world today. The film features original music created for this story. Sharing their insights are Lakota historians Jace DeCory, Donovin Sprague, Wilmer Mesteth and Whitney Recountre.
This short film follows Tonisha, Toneil and their family as they reclaim their Navajo history and reconnect with ancestors within the canyon walls.
Examines the 1879 court case of Standing Bear vs. Crook and the struggle for basic Native American rights.
Oklahoma is home to thirty-nine federally recognized tribes. Nowhere in North America will you find such diversity among Native Peoples, and nowhere will you find a more tragic history. Host Moses Brings Plenty (Oglala Lakota) guides this episode of Growing Native on a journey through Oklahoma’s past and present.
We get up close and personal with Steven Paul Judd, the dynamic and bold 21st century renaissance man. This self-taught artist’s love for pop culture and Native American art has given him a massive following. This insightful portrait shows how Judd indigenizes the popular everyday to allow our young to see themselves in all aspects of life, while at the same time making his own dreams a reality through his passion and zest for life.
Thirty miles from Manhattan a group of mysterious mountain people fight for recognition as a legitimate Native American tribe.