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Native American Film + Video Festival celebrates three decades of cinematic storytelling and support

As audiences enjoy 60 diverse films from across the hemisphere, Native filmmakers praise the festival's influence on their craft and community since 1979

Courtesy of the filmmaker
The Native American Film + Video Festival at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in New York runs March 26-29 at the George Gustav Heye Center. Gwich'in director Princess Lucaj’s “Pow Wow Dreams” features Thirza Defoe, Ojibwe and Oneida. Defoe plays one of four sisters in a Native American drum group who face a dilemma when one decides to leave. The eight-minute film is an example of the well-crafted, Native American-directed shorts for which this festival is known. Feature films and documentaries will also be screened.

Courtesy of the filmmaker
Young Apache skateboarders are the subject of this eight-minute video by director Dustinn Craig, who is White Mountain Apache and Navajo. Finely-crafted, short films are a specialty of the National Museum of the American Indian’s Native American Film + Video Festival in New York. The video will be screened in the afternoon of March 28.

Courtesy of the filmmaker
“A Return Home” will be shown at the National Museum of the American Indian’s Native American Film + Video Festival in New York. The 31-minute film, produced in 2008, explores the experience of B. Emerson Kitsman, mother of filmmaker Ramona D. Emerson. Kitsman, a contemporary painter, returns to her childhood home on the Navajo Nation, asking questions about what it means to come home and what it means to be a Native artist today.

Courtesy of the filmmaker
Director Tessa Desnomie, Cree, developed the film called “ati-wîcahsin/It's Getting Easier” with the National Film Board of Canada. In it, the filmmaker and her grandmother talk about changing times. It will be screened at the National Museum of the American Indian’s Native American Film + Video Festival in New York on Sunday, March 29.

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Native comic artists inspire, amaze and amuse

The NMAI exhibition shows the power Native heroes command across mediums from stone to newspaper, and even on the surface of a skateboard

Courtesy of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
In “Behold…Po’Pay” from “Tewa Tales of Suspense,” cartoonist Jason Garcia depicts the historic hero of the 1680 Pueblo revolt against Spanish colonizers like a superhero from a 1964 Avengers comic. This work by Garcia, who is Santa Clara Pueblo, is featured in Comic Art Indigène, an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian through May 31.

Courtesy of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
Known as “All American Man,” this pictograph was drawn by an unknown Pueblo artist 800 years ago in what is now Utah. Like iconic heroes from 20th-century comic books, “All American Man” was drawn during a time of profound change. His red-white-and-blue shield is reminiscent of Captain America’s shield.

Courtesy of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
Jolene Nenibah Yazzie’s “Ko’ Asdzaa,” or “fire woman,” is one in a series of her Native interpretations of female heroes. Works by Yazzie, who is Navajo, are featured in Comic Art Indigène, an exhibition showing at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian through May 31.

Courtesy of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
“Frybread Man” (2003) is a best seller for Ryan Huna Smith, a Chemehuevi and Navajo artist. His work is featured in Comic Art Indigène, an exhibition showing at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian through May 31.

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NMAI garden sows seeds of federal trend

The idea of growing food outside a public building in Washington, modeled by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian since 2004, catches on at USDA

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The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian is located in Washington, D.C. The Museum also operates the George Gustav Heye Center in New York City, and the National Museum of the American Indian Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, Md.

The National Museum of the American Indian is committed to advancing knowledge and understanding of the Native cultures of the Western Hemisphere, past, present and future, through partnership with Native people and others. The museum works to support the continuance of culture, traditional values, and transitions in contemporary Native life.

The NMAI E-Newservice is a free news service to news media serving Native America from the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. The NMAI E-Newservice provides articles, photographs and editorial content for news outlets to use free of charge. Please credit the NMAI E-Newservice, AND use bylines as provided. Kara Briggs, a Yakama and Snohomish journalist, is the editor. She owns Red Hummingbird Media Corp., which contracts with the National Museum of the American Indian to provide this service. Contact her at editor@nmaie-newservice.com or by phone at 503-577-0012 if you have questions, comments or requests, or if you wish to subscribe.

Kara Briggs, Editor
Eileen Maxwell, NMAI Director of Public Affairs
Leonda Levchuk, NMAI Copy Editor
Sarah E. Smith, Red Hummingbird Media Corp., Copy Editor
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