KAPU: Sacred Hawaiian Burials

Through the Repellent Fence: A Land Art Film

February 2017 •English

The film follows Postcommodity, an interdisciplinary arts collective comprised of Raven Chacon, Cristóbal Martinez and Kade L. Twist, who put land art in a tribal context. The group bring together a community to construct the Repellent Fence, a two-mile long ephemeral monument “stitching” together the US and Mexico.

Forests

May 2022 •French

In a dark, ambiguous environment, minuscule particles drift slowly before the lens. The image focuses to reveal spruce trees and tall pines, while Innu voices tell us the story of this territory, this flooded forest. Muffled percussive sounds gradually become louder, suggesting the presence of a hydroelectric dam. The submerged trees gradually transform into firebrands as whispers bring back the stories of this forest.

Tóxico, Texaco, Tóxico

November 2007 •Spanish

The imagination of history in Ecuador never thought that oil, “its redeeming hope”, discovered in the Lago Agrio No. 1 well, was going to mean the beginning of the worst environmental catastrophe on the planet. Thirty years of operation and exploitation of the Texaco company, forever transformed the rivers and estuaries, the forests and the life of the indigenous communities in the northern Amazon of Ecuador.

E Haku Inoa: To Weave a Name

October 2013 •English

A mother and daughter, estranged by divorce and mental health issues, reconnect through patience, understanding, and their a shared appreciation of their Native Hawaiian heritage.

Out of State

November 2017 •English

Out of State is the unlikely story of native Hawaiians men discovering their native culture as prisoners in the desert of Arizona, 3,000 miles, and across the ocean, from their island home.

Ameríndia - Memória, Remorso e Compromisso no V Centenário

Invalid date •Portuguese

Moananuiākea: One Ocean, One People, One Canoe

November 2018 •English

From 2019 Maui Film Festival This powerful documentary celebrates the historic Malama Honua Worldwide Voyage that connected countless individuals and communities from around the globe. A voyage that also represented the fulfillment of the vision of Nainoa Thompson and his contemporaries, the passing of the mantle to the next generation of kanaka maoli who will retain the skills of their ancestors and perpetuate this tradition for generations to come so the legacy of Hokulea can last for 1,000 generations.

The Massie Affair

April 2005 •English

In the waning days of summer 1931, Honolulu's tropical tranquility was shattered when a young Navy wife made a drastic allegation of rape against five nonwhite islanders. What unfolded in the following days and weeks was a racially-charged murder case that would make headlines across the nation, enrage Hawai'i's native population, and galvanize the island's law enforcers and the nation's social elite.

Sacha Runa Yachay

November 2007 •Spanish

The elders of the Kichwa community of Sarayaku preserve the history of their land for the youngest. They save the knowledge of their traditions against modernity and the invasion of their territory.

Visions in the Dark: The Life of Pinky Thompson

May 2017 •English

Pinky Thompson grew up in Hawaii during a time when one was punished for being Native Hawaiian. After almost losing his life in the battlefields of Normandy in World War II, Pinky brought his fierce energy to the arena of social service whre he championed a health care system, created invaluable educational programs and strengthened the pride of Native Hawaiians. Pinky fostered new methods of policy collaboration and community testimony. He elevated a new generation of Hawaiian leaders to represent the vibrant cultural identity and value system of the Hawaiian people.

Toroboro: The Name of the Plants

September 2024 •Spanish

A botanical expedition in Ecuador's Amazon becomes a medium for an indigenous Huaorani community to remember the genocidal colonization it suffered in the 1960s. Meanwhile, a group of ecologists from the capital tries to stop oil exploitation in the last remaining forests where the isolated Huaoranis still live, who to this day refuse to come into contact with civilization.

Iniskim - Return of the Buffalo

September 2024 •English

A cinematic wonder & incredible opportunity to learn about Indigenous ways of knowing. A group of puppeteers are transformed by their experience of "being buffalo" at night under the stars. Amethyst First Rider tells the puppeteers, "You are the buffalo. With each movement of your hands, each connection, you're creating energy & they become a part of you." In 2017 history was made when bison were reintroduced to Banff National Park where they continue to roam free today. The project was part of the historic Buffalo Treaty, with over 40 First Nation signatories, who are part of the movement to bring buffalo back to their ancestral lands. Leroy Little Bear & Amethyst First Rider lead this movement, & since Amethyst is first & foremost an artist, she wanted to celebrate the return of the buffalo through art. She met master puppeteer, Pete Balkwill, who was working with sculptural lantern puppets with his collaborators that lent themselves to night time performances on the land

Q'eros: The Shape of Survival

March 1979 •English

Exploration of the way of life of the Q’eros Indians of Peru, who have lived in the Andes for more than 3,000 years.

Cry Rock

October 2010 •English

The wild beauty of the Bella Coola Valley blends with vivid watercolor animation illuminating the role of the Nuxalk oral tradition and the intersection of story, place and culture.

American Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawai'i

January 2003 •English

American Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawai’i shows the survival of the hula as a renaissance continues to grow beyond the islands. With the cost of living in Hawai'i estimated at 27 percent higher than the continental United States, large numbers of Hawaiians have left the islands to pursue professional and educational opportunities. Today, with more Native Hawaiians living on the mainland than in the state of Hawai'i, the hula has traveled with them. From the suburbs of Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area, the largest Hawaiian communities have settled in California, and the hula continues to connect communities to their heritage on distant shores.

Kumu Hina

June 2014 •English

A transgender Native Hawaiian teacher inspires a young girl to fulfill her destiny of leading the school's male hula troupe, even as she struggles to find love and a committed relationship in her own life.

The Road Forward

April 2017 •English

The Road Forward is an electrifying musical documentary that connects a pivotal moment in Canada’s civil rights history—the beginnings of Indian Nationalism in the 1930s—with the powerful momentum of First Nations activism today. Interviews and musical sequences describe how a tiny movement, the Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood, grew to become a successful voice for change across the country. Visually stunning, The Road Forward seamlessly connects past and present through superbly produced story-songs with soaring vocals, blues, rock, and traditional beats.

Surviving Columbus

November 1992 •English

This Peabody Award-winning documentary from New Mexico PBS looks at the European arrival in the Americas from the perspective of the Pueblo Peoples.

Now Is the Time

September 2019 •English

When internationally renowned Haida carver Robert Davidson was only 22 years old, he carved the first new totem pole on British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii in almost a century. On the 50th anniversary of the pole’s raising, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter steps easily through history to revisit that day in August 1969, when the entire village of Old Massett gathered to celebrate the event that would signal the rebirth of the Haida spirit.

Ozogoche

November 2023 •Spanish

Cuviví is the Ecuadorean indigenous name for the upland sandpiper, a wading bird that has special significance for the communities living around the Ozogoche lakes in the middle of the Andes. Each year, these birds migrate south from North America. Around September they pass the Ozogoche lakes, where large numbers then “commit suicide,” plunging from great heights into the ice-cold water. A girl lives near the lake. Her uncle lives in the US, and she might be heading there herself. In the meantime, she awaits the arrival of the cuvivís, few of which have appeared in recent years. The lakes are drying up.