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DESCRIPTION:
In honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day and in conjunction with the LA SKINS FEST, this program will showcase short films by indigenous filmmakers from Alaska, Hawaii, California, and Colorado. The screenings will be followed by a panel discussion with the directors, moderated by USC School of Cinematic Arts MFA candidate Kapena Baptista.

Program:
Gently, Jennifer (Directed by Doane Tulugaq Avery. Running Time: 10 min.)
Set in 1982, Gently, Jennifer is a coming-of-age short film about two teen girls exploring body image while looking through an older brother’s magazine.

Douk (Directed by Michelle Hernandez. Running Time: 17 min.)
A Native American family confronts the harsh reality of being split apart from their daughters.

Escape (Directed by Youth of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. Running Time: 24 min.)
Two misfit teens are tempted to end their lives in order to escape harsh and oppressive circumstances. Their story addresses topics such as teen violence, poverty, substance abuse, bullying, homophobia, and domestic abuse.

Ka Piko (Directed by Bryson Chun. Running Time: 9 min.)
A young Native Hawaiian struggles with his tenuous connection to his culture. When his girlfriend dies during childbirth, he is forced to complete a traditional indigenous birthing ritual and journey with his girlfriend’s overbearing father. 

Bios:
Doane Tulugaq Avery focuses on feminine, queer, and indigenous character-driven narratives that blend cinematic realism with surreal and musical moments. She received the LA SKINS FEST Emerging Filmmaker Award and the imagineNATIVE Jane Glassco Award for Emerging Talent. Hailing from the Pacific Northwest of Inupiaq descent and now living in Los Angeles, Avery was selected as a fellow for the Sundance Institute + IAIA Native Writers Workshop in July 2015 and received an MFA in Film Directing from the California Institute of the Arts in 2016. 

Bryson Chun (Kanaka Maoli) is a 2016 Sundance Film Festival Native Shorts Lab Fellow and a 2018 imagineNATIVE Feature Screenwriting Intensive Fellow. His film, Ka Piko, premiered at the Hawaii International Film Festival in 2017, was featured in the 2018 PBS Online Film Festival, and was included in the 2019 Native Cinema Showcase by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Chun has produced a wide array of award-winning short and feature film projects, including the feature documentary ‘Ike: Knowledge is Everywhere, and is the current ‘Ohina Lab Greenlight Award winner.

Michelle Hernandez is a Wiyot filmmaker and photographer. She grew up on the Table Bluff Reservation and received her Master’s in Film and Electronic Media at American University and her BA in both Film and Native American Studies at Humboldt State. Focusing on the importance of culture, traditions, and identity, she wants to create stories with diverse representation in her work.

Youth of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe represent the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (UMUT) Student Arts Film Institute, an empowerment program that offers career training and advanced creative development. Dedicated to developing the filmmaking, technology, and digital media skills of UMUT youth, its curriculum challenges them to use production equipment, editing software, and their creative abilities to produce short-form narratives about their community.

Presented by USC Visions and Voices: The Arts and Humanities Initiative, the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and LA SKINS FEST.