In 2001 two impulses led to the creation of the Native Cinema Showcase. The first was an explosion in high-quality indigenous-produced media—the first sign of a significant Native cinema movement taking shape. The second was what we saw as a gap to fill: the absence of film and video artists at the Santa Fe Indian Market, the world’s largest celebration of indigenous creativity.

In the 10 years since, indigenous cinema has become one of the most exciting and meaningful movements in global media. Each year bring more works, in an expanding array of forms, exploring a huge breadth of subject matter. Indigenous films have now won major awards at Cannes, Toronto and Sundance, been nominated for Oscars and broken box office records. And the movement has gone global. This year’s event, for example, features work from the American Southwest to the Arctic Circle and, key this year, from the Pacific.

Two years ago, SWAIA—the founder and producer of Indian Market—welcomed these outstanding filmmakers into its prestigious family, adding a second location at the Cinema at Cathedral Park, a grassroots-style theater located right in the thick of the hundreds of Market booths.

This year the Native Cinema Showcase is screening four new Native-directed feature films, five outstanding documentaries and 25 short works—fiction, documentary, new media and family programs—along with live music, an animation workshop for youth sponsored by the New Mexico Film Office, and a presentation at Cathedral Park of the award-winners of SWAIA’s new Classification X for Native media.  Among the filmmakers participating are Neil Diamond, Shelley Niro, Taika Waititi, Chris Eyre, Gary Farmer, Donavan Seschillie, Chris Kientz, and Reaghan Tarbell. Specific programs are being presented in cooperation with the Indigenous Language Institute, Taos Center for the Arts, and Institute of American Indian Arts.  Many thanks to SWAIA’s Director, Bruce Bernstein, staff—John Torres-Nez (Diné), Gabe Gomez, and Caren Gala (Nambe/Laguna Pueblo)—for the assistance and support that makes this year’s events possible.

Join us in August to celebrate the past decade of extraordinary indigenous media, and honor the imaginative work of the filmmakers as we look forward to an exciting future for Native film.

Use Twitter, MySpace and Facebook to find out more and to add your comments. 

Elizabeth Weatherford
Director, Film and Video Center
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

Jason Silverman
Director, Cinematheque Center for Contemporary Arts 

John Torres-Nez
Director, Artist Services, Southwestern Association for Indian Arts

Featured Works

• Boy
• CBQM
• Čurte-Nillas: The (Short) Movie
• Finding Our Talk: Australia
• Finding Our Talk: Mi’gmaq
• Finding Our Talk: New Zealand Language Nests
• Finding Our Talk: Sami
• How People Got Fire
• Jim Thorpe: The World's Greatest Athlete
• Kissed by Lightning
• The Last Explorer
• Mayan Reign
• Miss Navajo
• The Missing Child
• Nana
• Poi Dogs
• Popol Vuh: The Quiché Maya Creation Myth
• Powerball
• Raccoon and Crawfish
• Raven Tales: How Raven Stole the Sun
• Raven Tales: Raven and the First People
• Reel Injun
• The Rocket Boy
• Samson & Delilah
• Santa Fe
• Six Miles Deep
• Stones
• Tsi tkahéhtayen/The Garden
• The Turtle and the Shark
• Tales of Wesakechak: Wesakechak and the First Spring Flood
• White Fawn’s Devotion
• Windigo

Schedule at-a-glance

Please refer to the PDF of the program for full details.

Download the Native Cinema Showcase program

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Presenting Organizations

SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN and NMAI FILM & VIDEO CENTER 
Chartered by an act of Congress in 1989 as the 18th museum of the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is dedicating to advancing knowledge and understanding of the Native cultures of the Americas. For information, visit www.americanindian.si.edu. The NMAI Film and Video Center (FVC) produces the Native American Film + Video Festival and provides screenings of and information services about Native film, video, radio and television in the Americas and Hawai’i. The FVC is headquartered at NMAI in New York where it develops local, national and international programs for NMAI. Visit www.nativenetworks.si.edu (English) or www.redesindigenas.si.edu (Spanish).

CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS and CCA CINEMATHEQUE 
Through its film, media, visual, and performing arts and interdisciplinary programming, the CCA provides a forum to promote the exploration of new ideas in contemporary art and thought. CCA supports visual artists, performers, filmmakers, and others who work in exploratory ways, sparking dialogues and collaborations in and beyond the Santa Fe community. The CCA Cinematheque has screened the best in new and classic cinema daily since 1984. Visit www.ccasantafe.org for more information.

SOUTHWESTERN ASSOCIATION FOR INDIAN ARTS and SANTA FE INDIAN MARKET
SWAIA’s mission is to be an advocate for Native American arts and cultures and create economic and cultural opportunities for Native American artists by producing the Santa Fe Indian Market. This largest juried show of Native fine art with over 1,100 artists from 100 tribes shows their work in 650 booths over a two-day period. This year marks the 88th Annual SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market, and it takes place on the Plaza and surrounding streets in Santa Fe, N.M. on August 22 and 23. For information visit www.swaia.org.

Showcase Team

NMAI: Elizabeth Weatherford, Director, Film and Video Center, Reaghan Tarbell (Mohawk), Rebekah Mejorado, Cindy Benitez, Millie Seubert, Gaby Markey

CCA: Jason Silverman, Cinematheque Director, Javier Hernandez, Filip Celander, Jett Boynton, Lacey Adams

SWAIA: Bruce Bernstein, Director, John Torres-Nez (Diné), Gabe Gomez, Caren Gala (Nambe/Laguna Pueblo)

Showcase Info

Showcase passes:

$50/$40 NMAI and CCA members, includes priority admission to all screenings and events.

Tickets to Cinematheque screenings:

9.50 general admission, $8.50 students/seniors, $8 NMAI, CCA, SWAIA members.
All screenings and programs at the Cinema at Cathedral Park are free.
Passholders are seated first and all others on a first-come, first-served basis.

Locations:

CCA Cinematheque: Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail
Cinema at Cathedral Park: Cathedral Park, Indian Market, downtown Santa Fe
Taos Center for the Arts: Taos Historic District, www.tcataos.org or call 575-758-2502

For further information contact the Center for Contemporary Arts at 505-982-1338, www.ccasantafe.org.

Thanks

New Mexico Film Office (Lisa Strout, Trish Lopez); Taos Center for the Arts (Dancer Dearing); Indigenous Language Institute (Inée Yang Slaughter and Wes and Maura Studi); Jason Aufrichtig and Counter Culture; Pueblo de Ninos (Daniel and Marisol Borrero); The Santa Fe Reporter (Doña Hatch and Andy Dudzick); and the NMAI Office of Public Affairs, NMAI Resource Centers, NMAI-GGHC Board of Directors, CCA Board of Directors and staff.  Delete at end: and Santa Fe Suites.

Image credit: Audience at Plan B Cinematheque during discussion after A House Made of Dawn - photograph by Amalia Cordova; Kissed by Lightning; Emma Kay and Bertha Francis - Photograph by Bonnie Thompson, © 2009 National Film Board of Canada. All rights reserved.; Finding Our Talk: Australia, Rhonda Inkamala at Yipirinya School, teaching bush medicine class; Miss Navajo - Idris Rheubottom; The Rocket Boy

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