Now in it’s third year, the Native American Film Series at The Ross features free monthly screenings showcasing Native American films and television programs from the Vision Maker Media public broadcasting archives. Presented by The Ross Media Arts Center, Vision Maker Media, and Friends of The Ross.

Unless otherwise noted, screenings in this series will take place on the second Monday of each month and are admission free and open to the public. Tickets available at the Ross box office (online ticketing not available for free screenings).

VISION MAKER MEDIA

Vision Maker Media’s Film Festival, “Everything is Connected,” celebrates VMM’s 50 years as the premier source of media by and about Native Americans. The festival is part of the annual Native American Film Series and demonstrates that Indigenous storytelling has long understood the interconnectedness of everything. These films remind us that the bonds among people, land, history, and community are not new ideas, but enduring truths. More info…

IN THE WAKE OF JUSTICE DELAYED MONDAY, MAY 11 (Time TBA)

The American justice system promises a timely resolution for crimes but is failing our Alaska Native families who wait years, and even decades for resolution within our system. Consequently, this leads to general distrust, lower reporting and higher recidivism by perpetrators who are unpunished or rehabilitated and left to run free in the communities where their crimes were committed. This film looks deep within families fighting for justice after a loved one is murdered, with particular attention to systemic historical roots and perpetuation of generational trauma as context and basis for understanding the current epidemic of violence.

AANIKOOBIJIGAN [ANCESTOR / GREAT-GRANDPARENT / GREAT-GRANDCHILD]
MONDAY, JUNE 8 (Time TBA)

In the sterile archives of museums our ancestor’s remains struggle to find their way home. The film follows the eleven indigenous repatriation specialists that make up MACPRA (Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation & Repatriation Alliance). Through an essayistic approach the film takes a critical look at the reasoning that justified unearthing and collecting them in the first place, and presents vérité portraits of the courageous individuals doing the hard and emotionally draining work of fighting for their return.

WITHOUT ARROWS
MONDAY, JULY 13 (Time TBA)

Without Arrows is a longitudinal portrait of a Lakota family living on a reservation in South Dakota, that unfolds over the course of 12 years. Delwin Fiddler Jr. is a champion grass dancer who grew up on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation in South Dakota, but left as a young man to escape a trauma that splintered his family and built a new life in Philadelphia. Thirteen years later, Delwin returns home to attempt to heal the past.

THE LAND RETURNS
MONDAY, AUGUST 10 (Time TBA)

The Land Returns chronicles a surprising new way that Indigenous nations are regaining their land: individual settlers, local governments, environmental organizations, and even corporations are returning stolen land to Indian nations as part of a growing grassroots movement of restitution and reconciliation. Walter Echo-Hawk asserts, “If a person is wanting to heal a historical injury or to bring about a reconciliation or a true atonement of a painful past . . . there’s nothing better that one can do than to return the land.”

UNCOVERING BOARDING SCHOOLS: STORIES OF RESISTANCE AND RESILIENCE
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 (Time TBA)

Uncovering Boarding Schools: Stories of Resistance and Resilience chronicles present-day efforts by Klamath tribal members to uncover the difficult and often hidden history of Indigenous children forced into government-sanctioned boarding schools—including some religious schools that were previously unknown–in order to bring about community reconciliation and healing.

UNTOLD VALOR MONDAY, OCTOBER 12 (Time TBA)

This powerful film shares the stories of Native American Code Talkers in World War II—Indigenous heroes who used their languages as unbreakable codes to help secure Allied victory and protect their fellow soldiers.

ONE WITH THE WHALE
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9 (Time TBA)

In St. Lawrence, Alaska, a remote island in the Bering Sea where hunting whales is a matter of life and death, a shy Native teen, Chris Apassingok, became the youngest person ever to harpoon a whale for his village. His family gets blindsided by thousands of keyboard activists brutally attacking him online—without fully understanding the importance of the hunt to his community’s survival. “One with the Whale” chronicles the obstacles Chris and his family face, amidst larger currents of food security, environmental racism, climate change, cultural genocide, and social media. The livelihood of the Apassingoks and their village are threatened as they search for a balance between modernity and a traditional subsistence lifestyle.

WHOSE LAND? O’ODHAM LAND!
MONDAY, DECEMBER 14 (Time TBA)

Whose Land? O’odham Land! documents the breathtaking landscapes and profound cultural legacy of the O’odham people living in Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora, whose voices are so often excluded from mainstream discussions about the US – Mexico borderlands. Through intimate storytelling, the film explores the impact of the U.S.-Mexico border on O’odham ancestral land, traditions, and identity—while celebrating the resilience of those fighting to maintain their heritage.

Programs in this series have been collected from public broadcasts spanning from the 1970s to today and may contain a low-resolution picture and occasional image anomalies from their transfer to digital media.