The Indigenous Film & Arts Festival is pleased to present the 21st annual Indigenous Film & Arts Festival around our theme: Knowledge and Power. This year all our programs are live, in-theater events. Please join us on Tuesday, October 22nd for short films about Tradition and Place, with filmmakers Clément Lagouarde and Keli Mashburn joining us for the discussion/Q&A.

February Sixteenth Nineteen Forty-Seven, director Jessica ᒦᖒᐊᖅᑏ Miinguuaqtii (Inuk). Inuk Elder Levinia Brown shares the oral history of how she was born on February 16, 1947 while her family was travelling by dog team across the open tundra. Her story is illustrated by cutout stop motion animation of hand sewn Inuit wall hanging designs in the style of her own artwork. (Jessica ᒦᖒᐊᖅᑏ Miinguuaqtii, 2024, 4 min.).

The Bull of Cold, director Alexander Moruo. In this delightful animation, a little boy named Ayaal cajoles his grumpy neighbor, Old Buokke who is an expert ice carver, to teach him the art of ice sculpture. A charming lesson on persistence, forgiveness, the passing of knowledge from one generation to the next, and artistic freedom. In Sakha and Russian with English subtitles. (TUNDRA Animation Studio, 2023, 8 min.).

I Am the Queen, director Roberto Salvador Rodriquez. In this very personal documentary, Mixe soprano María Reyna takes us on her journey through a childhood marked by domestic violence, the ultra-conservatism of the community she grew up in, and her desire to discover a world “beyond the mountain.” A moving story of courage, perseverance and finding one’s voice in every sense of the word. In Mixe with English Subtitles. (Lizet Palacios Duarte, 2022, 16 min.).

YU’A’AH, (Our Father), director Clément Lagouarde (Natchitoches). A brother and sister pay tribute to their father, all three expatriates living in France, reconnecting with their indigenous roots through ceremony. The film reflects Clément’s own family history; his great-grandfather left Natchitoches to serve in World War I and remained in France, where Clément was born and currently resides. In Natchitoches with English subtitles (Clément Lagouarde, 2024, 4 min.).

At Roanhorse Camp, director Keli Mashburn (Osage). Muffled voices and ethereal landscapes take the viewer to Roanhorse Camp – a place of mystery and memory deep in the Osage Reservation that was one extended family’s ceremonial center and heart. The film presents a personal meditation on twilight, both dusk and dawn, and evokes the sights and sounds of ceremony, exploring the liminal space between dreams, memory and reality. Shot on location at Roanhorse Camp, the original allotment of Keli’s great, great, great grandfather, some of the few remaining native grasslands at Osage. (Keli Mashburn, 2022, 3 min.).

Thanks to the generous support of our Sponsors, all of our Festival programs in Denver are FREE. If you would like to support the Film Fest, you may make a donation (suggested donation $5) in our Virtual Donation Bucket.

Free & open to the public – no rsvp needed