cINeDIGENOUS Spotlight Showcases 19 Films Representing 11 Countries at SIFF
2025 marks the 10th anniversary of 4th World Media Lab as part of the Seattle International Film Festival, running in person May 15th to 25th and online May 26th to June 1st.
The 4th World Media Lab is a year-long fellowship for emerging and mid-career Indigenous filmmakers, providing opportunities to develop filmmaking skills and networks through festival participation, hands-on training, masterclasses, workshopping projects in development, pitch activities, and meeting with funders and other industry decision-makers.
4th World Media Lab is a collaborative partnership between festivals, funders, and film industry leaders to mentor, train, and sustain Indigenous filmmakers and their careers. Fellowship activities take place at three international festivals: Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, Camden International Film Festival.
The lab will present and fund six Indigenous artists who will receive mentorship and creative support from industry leaders including Pacific Islanders in Communications, ITVS and guest artists such as Miki Magasiva (Director of Tinā).
"In these times, Indigenous stories offer fresh perspectives and important lessons, to carry us through change and transformation, especially through the medium of film and creative storytelling.” says Tracy Rector, founder of the 4th World Media Lab.
The 2025 Fellows chosen are:
Kekama Amona
Indigenous affiliation: Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian)
Katsitsionni Fox
Indigenous affiliation: Mohawk, Haudenosaunee/First Nations
James Johnson III
Indigenous affiliation: Koyukon Athabaskan
Jules Arita Koostachin
Indigenous affiliation: Attawapiskat
Tiare Ribeaux
Indigenous affiliation: Kanaka ʻŌiwi
Steph Viera
Indigenous affiliation: Diné, Salvadoran
In addition, the Seattle International Film Festival will highlight a curated annual spotlight, the cINeDIGENOUS. featuring the very best in Indigenous cinema with highlights including the NorthWest Premiere of Colleen Thurston’s DROWNED LAND, SXSW Documentary Jury Prize Winner REMAINING NATIVE, and the U.S. Premiere of New Zealand's top grossing film of 2024, KA WHAWHAI TONU (STRUGGLES WITHOUT END) marking 20 years of continued amplification of Indigenous made content. The full cINeDIGENOUS program includes:
Features:
Drowned Land - Colleen Thurston - US/Choctaw Nation
Deep in the Choctaw Nation of rural Oklahoma rages a fight to preserve the Kiamichi River, reckoning with a cycle of land loss for the Indigenous diaspora and the community at large.
Remaining Native - Paige Bethmann – US
A coming-of-age documentary told from the perspective of Ku Stevens, a 17-year-old Native American runner, struggling to navigate his dream of becoming a collegiate athlete as the memory of his great grandfather's escape from an Indian boarding school begins to connect past, present, and future.
Free Leonard Peltier - Jesse Short Bull and David France – US
Leonard Peltier, an activist jailed for decades after a disputed conviction, faces his twilight years as a new generation fights for his release from prison before it's too late.
Tinā - Miki Magasiva - Aotearoa/New Zealand
A woman, grieving her daughter's death in the Christchurch quakes, becomes a substitute teacher at an elite school. Unexpectedly, she discovers students lacking guidance and care, prompting her to provide inspiration and support.
Ka Whawhai Tonu (Struggles Without End) - Mike Jonathan - Aotearoa/New Zealand
In 1864 during the New Zealand Wars, Haki, a Māori-European teenager, fighting for the NZ colonial forces, is captured by the Māori resistance. He starts a reluctant friendship with Kopu, a young girl believed to be a medium for the Māori god of war.
Medicine Circle: Indigenous Stories of Return (Shorts programme)
Red-Shaded Green - Johannes Vang (Sámi) - Sápmi (Norway)
When green energy comes at the expense of Sámi traditional life and culture, this poetic film questions the sustainability of combating climate change by replacing one form of destruction with another.
In My Hand - Marja Helander (Sámi), Liselotte Wajstedt (Sámi) -Sápmi (Sweden, Norway, Finland)
Labeled a terrorist and left disabled, a Sámi activist paid a brutal price in 1982 while battling Norwegian authorities to protect his ancestral land. Masterfully blending archival footage and re-enactments, In My Hand retraces his battle and legacy, and challenges us to ask: Is it finally time to stop exploiting nature and start preserving it?
This is a Story About Salmon - Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Neets’aii Gwich’in) Alaska/US
As traditional salmon fishing comes under threat, Alaska Native subsistence communities come together to support one another, heal, and deliver a powerful testimony to their resilience and resistance.
Munkha - Alexander Moruo (Yakut), Markel Martynov - Russia
Niukku, a small girl, is about to embark on her first munkha, the traditional Yakutian winter fishing festival. Her big brother Michil laughs at her decorated “magic” mittens, but the girl has decided to show that they are very useful on a fishing trip.
Civilized - Marc Fussing Rosbach (Inuk) - Greenland
“Civilized” means “big spender” in Greenlandic. Using this Indigenous language insight, the film meditates on the connection between climate change and overconsumption.
Inkwo for When the Starving Return - Amanda Strong (Red River Michif/Métis) - Canada
Dove, a gender-shifting warrior, uses their Indigenous medicine (Inkwo) to protect their community from an unburied swarm of terrifying creatures.
Additional Shorts
Pow! - Joey Clift – US
A Native American kid scrambles to charge his dying video game console at a bustling intertribal powwow.
The Great Cherokee Grandmother - Anthony Sneed – US
A pleasant date between a man of Cherokee heritage and a Caucasian woman goes downhill when the woman flagrantly fixates on the very bane of Cherokee peoples’ existence: the Cherokee Grandmother syndrome.
Field Recording - Quinne Larsen - US
Three friends embark on surreal misadventures after a shared dream. Their pursuit of understanding leads them down an absurd path filled with laughter and self-discovery.
Waska: The Forest Is My Family - Nina Gualinga – Ecuador
Nina Gualinga of the Kichwa People of Sarayaku, investigates the ongoing environmental destruction and cultural appropriation of her Indigenous land in the Amazon.
Tiger - Loren Waters - US
A portrait of award-winning, internationally acclaimed Indigenous artist and elder Dana Tiger, her family, and the resurgence of the iconic Tiger T-shirt company.
Saturn Risin9 - Tiare Ribeaux, Jody Stillwater – US
Queer performance artist and musician Saturn Risin9 returns home to the Bay Area to share their journey of perseverance centering self-discovery, healing and creative expansion poetically told through dance, visual narrative, performance, and documentary.
Dear Aloha - Cris Romento – US
Dear Aloha is a short documentary profiling Diasporic Hawaiians living thousands of miles away from home. Dear Aloha shows how aloha sustains our people amidst distance, loss, and longing.
West Shore - Darrell Hillaire - US/Lummi Nation
West Shore is an 18-minute documentary film that follows the West Short Canoe Family as they paddle through their ancestral waters and connect with relatives during the 2023 Paddle to Muckleshoot.
A full schedule of panels, workshops, and career development opportunities can be found by visiting: siff.net.
