AANIKOOBIJIGAN [ANCESTOR / GREAT-GRANDPARENT / GREAT-GRANDCHILD]

NATIVE AMERICAN FILM SERIES
MONDAY, JUNE 8 at 7:00PM

The June 8 screening will be followed by a discussion with Zack Khalil (Director/Producer/Cinematographer), Jacque Clark (Producer/Additional Cinematographer/Sound Recordist), and Samuli Haavisto (Cinematographer). Moderated by Shirley Sneve (ICT Newscast Senior Producer).

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.

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).

Shirley Sneve is the senior producer for the ICT Newscast, a program of IndiJ Public Media. The weekly half-hour magazine show airs on 80 percent of PBS stations, Australia, Canada and several on-line streaming platforms, including Free Speech TV. A member of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, Sneve is also affiliated with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. She directed Vision Maker Media from 2004-2019, which is the largest US funder of Indigenous documentary film projects for public broadcasting. She lives in Lincoln, Nebraska and serves on the boards of the Near South Neighborhood Association, The Circle (Minneapolis, MN) The Center for Rural Strategies (Whitesburg, KY) and Arts Extension Institute (Amherst, MA).

Zack Khalil, a member of the Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a filmmaker and artist whose work centers Indigenous narratives in the present—and looks towards the future—through the use of innovative nonfiction forms. Khalil is a core contributor to New Red Order, a public-secret society which calls attraction toward indigeneity into question, yet promotes this desire, and enjoins potential non-Indigenous accomplices to participate in the co-examination and expansion of Indigenous agency. Khalil is the co-director and co-editor of the feature documentary INAATE/SE/it shines a certain way. to a certain place/ it flies/falls/ which premiered as the closing night film of the Museum of Modern Art’s Doc Fortnight Film Festival, and the experimental documentary short The Violence of a Civilization without Secrets (2017) which premiered at Sundance. Khalil also works professionally as a video editor, most recently co-editing Alison O’Daniels feature film The Tuba Thieves (2023), which premiered at Sundance. Khalil’s own work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, Sundance Film Festival, New York Film Festival, CPH: DOX, HKW, Walker Arts Center, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Creative Time, Toronto Biennial 2019, Whitney Biennial 2019, 59th Venice Biennale, Sharjah Biennial 15, Counterpublic Triennial 2023, among other institutions. Khalil is the recipient of various fellowships and grants, including a Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, Sundance Art of Nonfiction, and Gates Millennium Scholarship.

Jacque Clark, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a creative producer with a focus on film and music. Their work emphasizes the human search for meaning while exploring relationships with reality. With a background in mortuary science before choosing an artistic path, Clark brings a unique perspective to the creative process, viewing art as poetic science experiments for generating further conversations. Jacque Clark is based out of Minneapolis MN, and also resides part time in Saint Ste. Marie MI.

Samuli Haavisto is a Finnish American documentary cinematographer and commercial director. Samuli is a longtime contributor to works by Adam and Zack Khalil and New Red Order, including The Violence of a Civilization without Secrets (2017, Sundance Premiere), Give It Back: Crimes Against Realty (2024), and Aanikoobijigan [ancestor / great-grandparent / great-grandchild] (2025, Sundance Premiere).