Northern Plains Indigenous Film Festival to launch next month in Fargo

Joseph Williams, the festival’s founder and co-director, said he previously assisted the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in its Indigenous Peoples’ Rights subset.

When that festival ended, he saw the need for a similar space in the Northern Plains.

“It left a hole in the community for what we felt was needed,” Williams, a citizen of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, said. “We really wanted to create something for the community.”

Williams also spent five years as the director of Native American programs at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo. His love for Indigenous art, history and storytelling drove him to begin planning alongside Anna Johnson, co-director of the Northern Plains Indigenous Film Festival and vice chair of The City of Fargo Arts and Culture Commission.

Johnson, a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, said she is a mural artist who has always had a passion for film.

Johnson said submissions for the festival will be accepted through the end of March. Multiple submissions will be selected, and the chosen artists will be invited to the festival to showcase their work and answer questions.

Festival attendees will also have a chance to participate in workshops on producing films and independent filmmaking. The workshops are geared toward people within Native communities who may only have access to a cell phone or small camera.

“They can actually create high quality films themselves,” Williams said, adding that instructors will be flying in from all over the country to engage with participants and help them learn.

One workshop will be led by Yancey Burns and Ben West from Rena Flying Coyote Collective, a Native-led arts nonprofit, which focuses on telling the stories of Indigenous people.

West, a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and the collective’s CEO, said it’s important for people to remember Native communities as “an incredibly diverse collection of populations and cultures.”

“The more we have representation across Turtle Island, the more it hammers home to everybody who lives on this continent,” West said.

West and Burns traveled across the country for over 400 screenings of their film “Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting.” Burns said community members expressed curiosity in telling their own stories and how to get involved, which became the driving focus for their workshop.

The workshop, Burns said, will be an experience both for networking and for people to learn how to tell stories with equipment they likely already have.

The festival will also hold a screening of the 1989 film “Powwow Highway,” starring Gary Farmer. Williams said the film is a multifaceted story about corporations stealing resources from tribal lands.

People will get a chance to meet Farmer, who will be joining the event in person.

“It’s also a comedy. The main actor Gary Farmer is this beloved central figure in pop culture, he’s been in incredible films over the years, he really does carry this film,” Williams said. “The fact that he’s willing to participate with us and be part of this festival is very exciting.”

“Powwow Highway” was chosen to showcase the importance of Native representation in media and storytelling.

“What we wanted to do was bring in a film we are all familiar with that we have known for decades and bring that space, sit down and enjoy the film,” Williams said. “There are memories of us watching as kids with our parents and now we can share this with a new generation and connect with Gary afterwards.”

General admission to the festival is $10; $5 for students. Williams said because “Powwow Highway” is a well-known film, those tickets are separate from general admission and cost $10. Students pay $5.

“We intentionally kept the prices low so it is not restrictive of folks who want to join us,” Williams said.

Johnson said they are looking for festival volunteers. She said there will be an orientation day the Thursday before the festival.

Films will not be awarded prizes. “I don’t like the idea of creating competition among artists,” Williams said. Instead, there will be several blocks of short films where attendees can engage with filmmakers.

“We want to showcase the best of us out there right now,” Williams said.

Films can be submitted through the Northern Plains Indigenous Film Festival website. Eligibility requires films to be directed, co-directed or produced by a Native or Indigenous filmmaker.

“I think for a lot of us here in the Midwest, we feel like we have to go to the coast to dive into film and experience film,” Williams said. “I just want to push that we can create great things here.”