San Francisco is home to the oldest American Indian film festival.
Film festivals in North America dedicated to Indigenous film strive to promote positive attitudes towards Native Americans and Aboriginal peoples. These festivals are significantly smaller in scale and not as recognized internationally as larger film festivals such as the Sundance, Toronto, and Cannes festivals. Despite their profile, these festivals screen films from the United States and around the world to audiences that rarely have an opportunity to see works by American Indian filmmakers.
American Indian Film Festival
The American Indian Film Festival is organized by the American Indian Film Institute (aifisf.com), a non-profit founded in 1979 with the aim to promote understanding of Native American culture, traditions, and issues. Established in 1975, it is the oldest festival dedicated to American Indian films. The festival has been hosted in the Palace of Fine Arts since 1977, as well as other venues in San Francisco, California. Films are made by and about American Indians, many of which are rarely seen in the United States.
Native American Film and Video Festival
Organized by the Film and Video Center of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York City, the Native American Film and Video Festival (nativenetworks.si.edu) was first held in 1979. The festival is dedicated to films produced by Indigenous peoples throughout the Americas. In 2011, it screened approximately 100 shorts, features, and documentaries from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Suriname, and the United States.
Red Nation Film Festival
The Red Nation Film Festival (rednationfilmfestival.com) is the only festival dedicated to American Indian film in Los Angeles. Held during the city's annual American Indian Heritage Month in November, the festival closes with an awards show honoring Indigenous films. It includes films, documentaries, and shorts by Californian, American and international Indigenous peoples. The aim of the festival is to replace stereotypes of American Indians by promoting and recognizing American Indian filmmakers among mainstream audiences.
imagineNATIVE
The imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival (imaginenative.org) in Toronto, Ontario, is an international festival showcasing film, video, radio and new media productions by Indigenous peoples. Held each fall since 1998, the festival is one of the largest Indigenous film and media arts festivals in the world. In addition to the four-day festival, organizers provide free screenings of Indigenous films by Canadian, American, and international filmmakers in remote First Nation communities in Canada.
Tags: American Indian, American Indian Film, festival dedicated, Film Festival, Indian Film, Indigenous peoples
