Native Nonfiction

Since the birth of cinema, Indigenous people have been staple subjects of documentary—until a new generation of Native American filmmakers emerged in the 1980s who insisted on becoming its authors too. Forged in the social upheavals of the midtwentieth century and abetted by the emergence of accessible video technologies, these artists began to make films about and for their own communities, initiating a new kind of nonfiction that would be taken up by subsequent generations as one of the cornerstones of Native American cinema. From foundational works by filmmakers like Victor Masayesva Jr. (ITAM HAKIM, HOPIIT) and Arlene Bowman (NAVAJO TALKING PICTURE) who used the camera to preserve endangered cultural traditions and histories to younger artists like Sky Hopinka (MAŁNI – TOWARDS THE OCEAN, TOWARDS THE SHORE) and Fox Maxy (F1GHTING LOOKS DIFFERENT 2 ME NOW) who combine documentary and experimental practices to create boldly personal explorations of Indigenous identity, these films find Native directors employing innovative cinematic language to speak directly to the concerns of their communities.

Programmed by Adam Piron