GRIFFITH PARK—A selection of five Native short documentary films will be shown at The Autry Museum in Griffith Park on Saturday, November 12 at 5:30 p.m. The event is presented by the Sundance Institute and the UCLA American Indian Studies Center. Admission is free.

Diana Terrazas, Community Outreach Manager, informed Canyon News on how the collaboration between UCLA, Sundance, and The Autry came to fruition.

“The Autry began working with the Sundance Institute in 2011 to screen Native films during the Autry’s American Indian Arts Marketplace,” Terrazas said. “In 2012, we partnered with UCLA’s American Indian Student Center. Through collaborations with leading organizations like AISC, we are able to showcase films from Native and Indigenous communities.”

The first of five films is “Mobilize,” directed by Caroline Monnet, which explores the indigenous inhabitants of North America called the Algonquins, and their journey from the far north to the urban south. The second film is “Nikamowin,” directed by Kevin Lee Burton, a film that reconstructs the Swampy Cree tribal council through language and linguistic narrative. Directed by Sky Hopinka, “Jáaji Approx” is the third film that recount the journey of transcribing the language of Ho-Chunk using the International Phonetic Alphabet.

The fourth film “Seal Hunting with Dad,” directed by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, documents a modern seal hunt in the Alaskan tundra. The fifth film is “Red Lake,” directed by Billy Luther, and tells the deeply personal story about the 10-year anniversary of a school shooting on the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota.

“The selected short documentaries by Sundance alumni explore Native identity and cultural evolution in a rapidly changing world,” Terrazas said. “The visitors can expect to see is a diversity of films coming from Native filmmakers and communities. The films range from experimental to documentary films.”

The documentaries were made to represent diverse tribal nations and Native identity. Terrazas said showing these documentary films are important for both the filmmakers and the audience.

“On one hand audiences have an opportunity to see Native community’s stories and struggles in an insightful way that is so rarely seen,” Terrazas told Canyon News. “It’s also important to the filmmakers to be able to reach an audience that may be different than their typical crowd.”

The film presentation is part of the American Indian Arts Marketplace, which is the largest Native arts fair in Southern California taking place on November 12 and November 13 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. According to the Autry Museum website, the marketplace “features 200 Native American artists who represent more than 40 tribes. Top Native artists from across the country offer sculpture, pottery, beadwork, basketry, photography, paintings, jewelry, textiles, carvings, mixed-media works, and more.”

Located northeast of downtown, across from the Los Angeles Zoo, The Autry Museum in Griffith Park sets out to tell the stories of all peoples of the American West through art, history, and cultures.