TalkingStickFest

What begins as a documentary about the rigours of physical training becomes a complex portrait of a Pow Wow Jingle Dress Dancer . Joanne Soldier runs miles each days and weight trains in an effort to fulfill a spiritual calling that links her with the elders and the generations to come. Originally from Swan Lake First Nation in Manitoba, Joanne Soldier reveals the physical commitment and cultural necessity of her art form.

The Colony, Jeff Barnaby’s second short is a gritty depiction of deception, desolation and decay. Born of an imaginative script and proficiently executed, this powerful film witnesses cockroaches and chainsaws wreak havoc during one man’s descent into madness.Filmmaker: Jeff BarnabyFilmmaker Contact: 

Shake is a powerful shaman of the Yanomamö people. He wields his power to heal and to protect his people against their enemies in this world and beyond. Tracing his life and the life of his community over 40 years of their history, Shake tells how he and his people grapple with new ideas that come from the outside world and the challenging decisions they make in order to maintain their identity and survive as a people.

What does a family have to endure to create a future for itself? The documentary Standing Silent Nation, chronicles the efforts of a Lakota family to develop a sustainable economy on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Because the land is unsuitable for most crops, the Alex White Plume and his family put their hopes in industrial hemp, a hardy fiber crop with a booming worldwide demand for its many products.

Prescott Bush, grandfather of now President Bush, was stationed at Fort Sill, OK. While there, he dug up the grave of Geronimo and stole his skull. Crazy Ind’n is the story of one native’s quest to reclaim the stolen artifact and right this great injustice.

The service, sacrifice and dedication of the Native American in the US military

Cody, Nick and Travis, three teens from the Swinomish Indian Tribe, wanted to make a gangster movie or rap video. But instead they were asked to investigate the impact of two oil refineries on their tribal community. March Point follows their journey as they come to understand themselves, the environment and the threat their people face. For centuries the Swinomish Indian Tribe has relied on the natural resources of the Skagit Valley, through clamming, crabbing, and fishing. Before white settlement, tribal people inhabited the valleys, rivers, and shorelines, living off the rich land.