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- By Tamara Ikenberg
- Arts and Culture
SANTA FE, N.M. — The Santa Fe Community Foundation’s Native American Advised Fund is helping Native filmmakers forge ahead in the movie industry.
The fund recently awarded the $5,500 Native Stories grant to the annual Santa Fe Independent Film Festival (SFIFF) to increase opportunities for and outreach to Native filmmakers.
Jhane Myers (Comanche and Blackfeet), the committee chair of the 11-member Native American Advised Fund, said the fund’s mission is to support Native people throughout New Mexico. Assisting the film festival firmly aligns with that goal because the festival has recognized and celebrated Indigenous film since its 2009 debut, she said.
“I’ve been going to the festival since its inception and noticed that they have always included Native people and Native films on their own, without anybody trying to make them do it,” Myers said, adding that the festival also offers free passes to Institute of American Indian Arts film students and hosts internships.
In addition to empowering Native filmmakers, supporting the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival also enhances the fund’s mission in other valuable ways, Myers said.
“It gives our fund more visibility because the festival acknolwedges the people who support their organization,” she said. “We just thought it was a win-win all the way around.”
Jacques Paisner, artistic director of the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, said the organization is proud to have the “stamp of approval” from the fund, noting the grant is greatly appreciated and needed to bolster Native filmmaking talent.
As far as specific plans for the grant, Paisner said it will be used for purposes including screening fees, honoraria for filmmakers, filmmaker travel and bussing in students to the festival who otherwise wouldn’t have access.
“It’s a chance to reach out to this next generation of up-and-coming local filmmakers and work on developing our partnerships more with local schools and the Institute of American Indian Arts,” Paisner said. “We’ve always made an effort to show the top Indigenous films of the season. Having these Indigenous stories as part of the lexicon of American cinema is just so important for the uplifting of the creative consciousness of Santa Fe and the U.S. and the world.”
The festival takes place over five days each October, lures in around 75,000 movie lovers, and presents more than 50 feature films and 75 short films.
Last year, the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival was a mix of online programming and in-person screenings at the drive-in theater Motorama at the Downs. Paisner said this year’s festival will also combine virtual and drive-in screenings, but it’s not yet clear if any of the events or films will be held inside a regular movie theater.
In 2013, the festival took its commitment to Native filmmakers to a new level when festival advisory board chair, Haudenosaunee/Iroquois actor, filmmaker and activist Gary Farmer initiated the festival’s Indigenous Program.
In a statement, Farmer expressed his enthusiasm about the Native Stories grant.
“We gratefully thank Santa Fe Community Foundation’s Native American Advised Fund,” he said. “With this grant, SFIFF will encourage endeavors in Native American film production, development, and assistance in finding an audience and securing Native American storytelling for future generations.”
The Indigenous Program’s dedicated series of screenings, workshops, panels, awards ceremonies, and networking events has become an essential element of the festival.
“It’s such an exciting program and it’s become one of the top programs of its kind in the world,” Paisner said.
Program highlights have included visits from rising Oglala Lakota and Diné filmmaker and IAIA graduate Razelle Benally, and marquee stars like Cherokee actor and producer Wes Studi and Cree and Métis actress Tantoo Cardinal. It’s also featured the national or regional premieres of buzzworthy Native films like the supernatural mystery “Monkey Beach” and the Standing Rock documentary “We Are Unarmed.”
The Native Stories grant is one of more than a dozen grants totalling $220,000 awarded late last year by the Native American Advised Fund, which has contributed to 50 different tribes, schools and organizations since 1997.
From museums and language preservation programs to food providers and distributors and environmental groups, the wide range of this cycle’s grantees also includes the Santa Fe Indigenous Center, New Mexico Kids Matter and the Pueblo of Pojoaque’s Tewa Language Immersion Program.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated from its original form.
