45th Annual American Indian Film Festival® Announces 2020 Winners • Big Screen Adaptation of Eden Robinson's Beloved Book Monkey Beach Sweeps, Walks With Six Top Awards
American Indian Film Festival 45 • Virtual • November 6-14, 2020
SAN FRANCISCO (November 9, 2020) – The American Indian Film Institute kicked off nine days of the first and oldest festival that showcases and celebrates the best American Indian / Alaska Natives and First Nations cinema on November 6 with the 45th Annual American Indian Film Festival Motion Picture Awards virtual program. This year's virtual festival – powered by Eventive – is comprised of 102 films – 55 world premieres, and the competition program included 42 films and 11 categories from Best Film to Best Music Video. Winners were selected by a jury comprised of educators, filmmakers, and community members, and the awards program is available free of charge online until the festival ends on November 14. The 45th Annual American Indian Film Festival virtual online presentation runs November 6-14, 2020. www.aifisf.com
American Indian Film Festival 45 • Motion Picture Awards 2020: https://tinyurl.com/yy3zvw4v
Tickets and additional information: https://tinyurl.com/y4eu292b
"Our strength and inner fortitude have always taken us to new places; epidemics and pandemics are not new to our people so canceling this year's festival wasn't on the table. We simply had to reimage how we presented the festival, and our virtual online presentation gives our filmmaker an even wider audience," said Mytia Zavala, Executive Director of the American Indian Film Institute.
Native films serve many functions: it’s a form of art, entertainment, an instrument of education, a medium for social change, and transmitter of cultural values and ways of life and this year’s line up of films are all of those things.
The American Indian Film Institute maintains its commitment to providing audiences with a genuine experience and understanding of the beautiful diversity within Indian Country as shared from an authentic place told by gifted filmmakers who tell their stories from their hearts -- from both sides of the lens. Winners from this year’s competition are:
Feature: Monkey Beach
Director: Loretta Todd
Screenwriter: Loretta Todd • Johnny Darrell, Andrew Duncan
Producer: Loretta Todd, Patti Poskitt, Carla Robinson, Fred Fuchs, Matthew O'Connor, Lisa Richardson
Cast: Grace Dove, Joel Ouelette, Nathaniel Arcand, Tina Marie Lameman, Adam Beach, Stefany Mathias, Sera Lys McArthur
Awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor
First Nations director Loretta Todd's debut narrative feature Monkey Beach took home the top prize in every category. Todd, who has a lengthy career as an award-winning documentary filmmaker, marks Monkey Beach as her debut narrative feature. Monkey Beach offers a modern epic underpinned by themes that have long defined heroic journeys with a narrative that unfolds through an exciting array of temporal shifts and stylistic flourishes.
The wins of the night for Monkey Beach include "Best Film" and "Best Director." Todd dedicated her "Best Film" award to the late Founder and President of the American Indian Film Institute, Michael Smith, "He believed in Indigenous filmmakers and Indigenous storytellers, and his vision lives on," Todd said in accepting her award. Grace Dove (The Revenant, How It Ends) garnered the "Best Actress" award with Adam Beach (Flags of Our Fathers, Windtalkers) walking with the award for "Best Actor." Tina Marie Lameman (Pot Holes: Life's One Big Road, Circle of Steel) and Nathanial Arcand (FBI: Most Wanted, The Revenant, Pathfinder) walked away with the "Best Supporting Actress" and "Best Supporting Actor" awards, respectively. A common theme among the Monkey Beach winners was of humble gratitude for the experience, and the journey all were taken on in making the film.
Best Documentary Feature: Sisters Rising
Director/Producer/Cinematographer: Willow O'Feral, Brad Heck
Executive Producer: Tantoo Cardinal
Co-Producer: Jaida Grey Eagle
Editor: Jenn Ruff, Razelle Benally
Composer: Allison Leialoha Milham
Cast: Sarah Deer (Muscogee Creek), Dawn White (Arikara), Chalsey Snyder (Mandan/Hidatsa), Lisa Brunner (Ojibwe), Loreline LaCroix (Ojibwe), Patty Stonefish (Lakota), Tantoo Cardinal (Cree/Metis), Jaida Grey Eagle (Lakota Sioux)
Native American women are 2.5 times more likely to experience sexual assault than all other American women. 1 in 3 Native women report having been raped during her lifetime and 86% of the offenses are committed by non-Native men. Sisters Rising follows six women who refuse to let this pattern of violence continue in the shadows: a tribal cop in the midst of the North Dakota oil boom, an attorney fighting to overturn restrictions on tribal sovereignty, a teacher of Indigenous women’s self-defense, grassroots advocates working to influence legislative change, and the authour of the first anti-sex trafficking code to be introduced to a reservation’s tribal court. Their stories shine an unflinching light on righting injustice on both an individual and systemic level.
Best Documentary Short: Crow Country: Our Right to Food Sovereignty
Director: Tsanavi Spoonhunter
Screenwriter: Tsanavi Spoonhunter
Producer: Tsanavi Spoonhunter
Cast: Peggy White Well Known Buffalo, Luella Brein, Prinz Three Irons, Juanita YellowMule, Conrad YellowMule
Crow Country: Our Right to Food Sovereignty follows several tribal members who are fighting for better food and a brighter future for their community.
Best Live Short: Iniskim
Director: Daniel Glick
Screenwriter: Daniel Glick, Sarah Clarke, Lauren Monroe, Craig Falcon
Producer: Sarah Clarke
Cast: Alia Heavy Runner
Iniskim is a fiction film inspired by a true story that follows a young Blackfeet girl's journey from trauma to recovery. By reconnecting with the ancient power of the buffalo, the timeless landscape of her ancestors, and the wisdom of her culture, her life is changed forever.
Best Animated Short: [World Premiere] Rotinonhsión:ni Ironworkers
Director: Carlee Kawinehta Loft, Allan Downey
Screenwriter: Carlee Kawinehta Loft, Allan Downey
Producer: Saki Murotani (Animator)
Production Design: Marcy Maracle (Artwork contribution), Martin Akwiranoron Loft (Artwork contribution), Victoria Ransom (Artwork contribution)
Music: Don Patrick Martin
Rotinonhsión:ni Ironworkers is short animated documentary about the history of Indigenous ironworkers in New York City. May 10th, 2013, the crowning spire of the One World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York was set in place marking the completion of the first of six towers planned as replacements for those destroyed on September 11th, 2001. Atop that tower stood the latest generation of Haudenosaunee ironworkers to follow in the footsteps of Indigenous families who, for the last 150 years, have helped create some of North America’s most iconic landmarks.
“I was just elated to see the news and have the opportunity to share Kahnawake’s history,” said Onkwehón:we historian and co-director and writer, Allan Downey.
Best Music Video: [World Premiere] Ego of a Nation
Director: Wes Day Screenwriter: Janet Rogers
Producer: Janet Rogers
Cast: Janet Rogers
Ego of a Nation is a video poem featuring poetry of the same title from the book of the same title which represents a creative reaction to centuries of court injustice experienced by Indigenous peoples more specifically the acquittal of Colten Bouchie's murder.
###
AIFF45 SPONSORS
AIFF 45 is made possible by the generous assistance of the San Francisco Arts Commission; San Francisco Grants for the Arts; Community Vision; the Center for Cultural Innovation; KQED-TV9; and the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation.
ABOUT THE 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 Native Americans. AIFI encourages filmmakers whose work expresses the native voices, viewpoints, and stories historically excluded from mainstream media; develops stories historically 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
661.200.4822
michelleshiningelk@me.com