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2023 Native Cinema Showcase

LOCATION

New Mexico History Museum

DATE

August 17–20, 2023

TIMES

See Below

ABOUT THIS EVENT

native cinema showcase

The National Museum of the American Indian’s Native Cinema Showcase is an annual celebration of the best in Native film. For this year’s theme, we highlight films of Indigenous perseverance that inspire, uplift, and triumph against adversity—stories that prevail against the judicial system, generational trauma, and cultural appropriation through love and complex relationships, self-worth, and humor.

FESTIVAL TRAILER

2023 Native Cinema Showcase Schedule

THURSDAY, AUGUST 17

Hey Viktor!

Thu. August 17 | 7:00PM Mountain

For mature audiences. Contains nudity, alcohol, substance use, and coarse language.
OC | Open captioning provided

New Mexico Premier

An Indigenous child star (Cody Lightning [Cree]) sets out to recapture his former glory by making the sequel to the film that made him famous twenty years earlier. Special reunion event with some of the original cast of Smoke Signals—Cody Lightning, Simon Baker, Irene Bedard, and Gary Farmer.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18

We Are Still Here

Fri. August 18 | 1:00PM Mountain

For mature audiences. Contains violence, historical trauma, and coarse language.
OC | Open captioning provided

We Are Still Here is a unique Indigenous film that interweaves eight powerful tales that tell a sweeping story of hope and survival.

ROSIE

Fri. August 18 | 3:00PM Mountain

OC | Open captioning provided

An orphaned Indigenous girl is forced to live with her reluctant, street-smart, Francophone aunty and her two best friends in 1980s Montreal.

Fancy dance

Fri. August 18 | 7:00PM Mountain

For mature audiences. Contains coarse language.
OC | Open captioning provided

New Mexico Premier

In person: Director Erica Tremblay

Following her sister’s disappearance, Jax (Lily Gladstone [Blackfeet/Nimíipuu]), a Native American hustler, kidnaps her niece, Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson [Tr’ondek Hwech’in First Nation/Anishinaabe]), from the child’s white grandparents and sets out for the state powwow in hopes of keeping what is left of their family intact.

saturday, AUGUST 19

Future-Focused Shorts Program

Sat. August 19 | 11:00AM Mountain

Family-friendly short films that are fun for kids of all ages.

Connections Shorts Program

Sat. August 19 | 1:00PM Mountain

A collection of short films that explore the unique complexities of the relationships we form within ourselves and with other people.

Powerlands

Sat. August 19 | 3:00PM Mountain

OC | Open captioning provided

New Mexico Premier

A young Navajo filmmaker investigates the displacement of Indigenous people and devastation of the environment caused by the same chemical companies that exploited the land where she was born.

Special Performance Event

Sat. August 19 | 7:00PM Mountain

Join us for an evening highlighting Indigenous music videos followed by a special concert with Doc Native and Spencer Battiest (Seminole Tribe of Florida) and DJ Emcee One.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 20

Inside Out Shorts Program

Sun. August 20 | 11:00AM Mountain

Unique short stories that defy the norms through true crime, supernatural elements, and humorous twists on cultural appropriation.

Lakota Nation v. United States

Sun. August 20 | 2:00PM Mountain

Lakota Nation vs. United States is a lyrical and provocative testament to a land and a people who have survived removal, exploitation, and genocide—and whose best days are yet to come.