ACROSS TRIBAL SKIES
ALASKA AIRLINES x AIFI • SEASON TWO Film Series
American Indian Film Institute®︎ Announces Partnership With Alaska Airlines Extended An Additional Year
San Francisco, CA (August 30, 2021) The American Indian Film Institute (AIFI) reached new heights when it partnered with Alaska Airlines in 2020 to stream award-winning American Indian, Alaska Native, and First Nations independent films onboard domestic Alaska flights.* The partnership made AIFI, the world's first and oldest organization of its kind, the first and only complete native-centric programming offered on any airline in the U.S. Starting Aug. 1, 2021, a new catalog of films by Indian Country’s best emerging and seasoned filmmakers will debut in the sky via Alaska Beyond™ Entertainment, the airline’s free in-flight entertainment system, which will be available to passengers with WiFi-equipped personal electronic devices.
Crow Colors
Directed by Mytia Zavala
An AIFI Original, Crow Colors in a mini doc highlighting Crow Artist, Del Curfman, as he shares his journey and philosophy as an artist.
Features Del Curfman
Crow Colors premiered at the 45th Annual American Indian Film Festival® in 2020. Del was recently profiled in the Santa Fe Reporter as one of “11 Indigenous artists you need to know.”
Images of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and First Nations people can be confining, and AIFI recognizes that the partnership provides an opportunity to update those images, to demonstrate that the people of Indian Country are contemporary people living in a modern world where technology plays a vital role. The partnership offers an opportunity to showcase talented Native filmmakers and provide insight into Indian Country’s unique spiritual and planetary values while dispelling the negative notions and symbolism.
Crow Country: Our Right to Food Sovereignty
Directed by Tsanavi Spoonhunter
Crow Country: Our Right to Food Sovereignty follows several tribal members who are fighting for better food and a better future for their community.
Features Peggy White Well Known Buffalo, Luella Brien, Prinz Three Irons, Clayvin Herrera, Juanita Yellowmule, Conrad Yellowmule
Crow Country: Our Right to Food Sovereignty won for Best Documentary Short at the 45th Annual American Indian Film Festival® in 2020.
Our partnership with Alaska and the addition of Native films to its in-flight programming is a huge strategic win for the American Indian Film Institute. When inclusion and diversity are sitting center stage globally, this allows our organization and filmmakers to remind the world that we are still here as we share our beautiful stories and diverse cultures, said Mytia Zavala, Executive Producer of the American Indian Film Institute.
Ego of A Nation
Directed by Wes Day
Ego of a Nation is a poetic visual narrative about injustices of the Canadian court systems particularly the acquittal of Colten Boushie's murderer.
Features Janet Marie Rogers
Ego of a Nation won for Best Music Video at the 45th Annual American Indian Film Festival® in 2020.
Ka tatishiptakanit (Ethereal)
Directed by Isabelle Kanapé
A man spreads rumors about a local elder. To be forgiven, he will be put to the test. Ka tatishtipatakanit is a poetic lesson about respect.
Features Scott Riverin, Réal Hervieux
Ka tatishtipatakanit was nominated for Best Live Short at the 45th Annual American Indian Film Festival® in 2020.
Zavala stated further, What’s more, it is about the impact it will have on our young people: that they will get on an Alaska flight and see their resemblances and cultures represented in this way — on a plane and in the sky — is immeasurably impactful. This representation and inclusion tell our people — more specifically, our young people — that they have value and worth. This opportunity has the power to change lives, and that does not escape any of us.
Mino Bimaadiziwin
Directed by Ishkwaazhe Shane McSauby
Jim, a trans Anishinaabe man, meets a mysterious Anishinaabe woman who helps him feel welcomed to the community and culture.
Features: Cleo Keahna, Grace Dove, Annabella Binaakwe
Mino Bimaadiziwin was nominated for Best Live Short at the 43rd Annual American Indian Film Festival® in 2018 and was included at AIFI x Motorama: FIRST SUNDAY drive-in screening in Santa Fe, NM July 2021.
Monkey Beach
Directed by Loretta Sarah Todd
Monkey Beach, a supernatural mystery, tells the story of a young woman who must accept her true heroic nature to save her brother who is lost at sea.
Features Adam Beach, Nathaniel Arcand, Grace Dove
Monkey Beach won six Awards including Best Film, Best Director (Loretta Sarah Todd), Best Actress (Grace Dove), Best Actor (Adam Beach), Best Supporting Actress (Tina Marie Lameman), Best Supporting Actor (Nathaniel Arcand), at the 45th Annual American Indian Film Festival® in 2020.
AIFI, celebrating its forty-sixth year of presenting the American Indian Film Festival®, pulled from its extensive library a compilation of animated shorts, live-action shorts, documentaries, and music videos, which will play alongside mainstream programs and films on Alaska Beyond Entertainment.
Other
Directed by Rod Pocowatchit
A Native American man goes on a job interview and explodes into a hilarious rant after discovering a glaring omission on the job application.
Features Rodrick Pocowatchit, Brett Patrik
Other was an Official Selection at the 40th Annual American Indian Film Festival® in 2015.
Rotinonhsion:ni Ironworkers
Directed by Carlee Kawinehta Loft, Allan Downey
A film that tells the story of Indigenous families who, for the last 150 years, have helped create some of North America's most iconic landmarks.
Rotinonhsion:ni Ironworkers won for Best Animated Short at the 45th Annual American Indian Film Festival® in 2020.
AIFI has long recognized that the less direct experience the public has with a specific sector of society, the more media depictions shape the public’s perception of who those communities are. The partnership gives the institute a chance to change the public paradigm about who American Indian, Alaska Native, and First Nations people are from an authentic place of first-hand knowledge and perspectives that depict the concerns, struggles, and successes of those communities.
Warrior Women
Directed by Christina D. King, Elizabeth A. Castle
Warrior Women is the story of mothers and daughters fighting for Native rights, survival & mother earth in the American Indian Movement of the 1970s.
Features Madonna Thunder Hawk, Marcella Gilbert
Warrior Women won for Best Documentary Feature at the 43rd Annual American Indian Film Festival in 2018.
American Indian Film Festival
The 46th Annual American Indian Film Festival’s virtual presentation runs Nov. 5-13, 2021. It is the first and longest-running festival showcasing independent films dedicated to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and First Nations culture and stories. For the past forty-six years, the film institute has supported and celebrated generations of Native filmmakers, performing artists, and audiences while simultaneously drawing into its circle of support: celebrities, industry professionals, student filmmakers, seasoned festival-goers, and newcomers. The institute and festival have become a trusted guide for those seeking to gain a multi-dimensional and realistic understanding of the heterogeneity that exists in Indian Country.
American Indian Film Institute
The mission of the American Indian Film Institute is to foster understanding and appreciation of the culture, traditions, and issues facing contemporary American Indians. AIFI supports filmmakers whose work expresses the native voices, viewpoints, and stories historically excluded from mainstream media; develops stories traditionally excluded from mainstream media; creates audiences for their work; and advocates for authentic representation of American Indians in the media.
Media Contact:
Michelle Shining Elk
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661.200.4822 michelleshiningelk@me.com