In honor of Indigenous Peoples' Day, a shorts collection from Indigenous filmmakers featuring titles from the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
The 2022 Sundance Institute Indigenous Short Film Tour is a theatrical program of six short films directed by Indigenous filmmakers, featuring titles from the 2022 Sundance Film Festival shorts program and from alumni of Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program. Featuring narrative and documentary shorts, the curated selection is a celebration of Native perseverance and an exciting look at a variety of inventive storytelling from Indigenous artists with Sundance ties.
Long Line of Ladies / United States (Directors: Rayka Zehtabchi, Shaandiin Tome - Diné): A girl and her community prepare for her Ihuk, the once-dormant coming-of-age ceremony of the Karuk and Yurok tribes of Northern California.
Kicking the Clouds / United States (Director: Sky Hopinka - Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians): An experimental documentary centered on a 50-year-old cassette tape of a Pechanga language lesson between the director’s grandmother and great-grandmother, and contextualized by an interview with his mother in his Pacific Northwest hometown.
Maidenhood / Mexico (Director: Xochitl Enriquez Mendoza - Zapoteca): Catalina submits to the tradition of her people to demonstrate her purity and worth as a woman to her beloved, but her body betrays her and she fails to demonstrate her chastity.
ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (Udeyonv) (What They’ve Been Taught) / United States (Director: Brit Hensel - Cherokee Nation): This film explores expressions of reciprocity in the Cherokee world, brought to life through a story told by an elder and first-language speaker.
The Original Shareholder Experience / United States (Director and Screenwriter: Petyr Xyst - Roadrunner clan in the Pueblo of Laguna): An Indigenous telepresenter nearing the top of her class must contend with her career prospects and her moral credibility as she's asked to sell a genocidal product on live television.
The Headhunter’s Daughter / Philippines (Director and Screenwriter: Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan - Ífugão, Visayan): Leaving her family behind, Lynn traverses the harrowing roads of the Cordilleran highlands to try her luck in the city as a country singer.
