Founded in 2009, the Santa Fe International Film Festival (SFiFF)—the biggest film festival in New Mexico—has presented critically acclaimed films like Marriage Story (2019), Just Mercy (2019), and The Worst Person in the World (2021). On Thursday, October 20, seven short films by Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) students will join these illustrious ranks as they are screened at the Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA) Studio as part of SFiFF’s Indigenous Film Program.

The student films include:

• Rezd Out directed by Alica J. Mteuzi (Caddo Nation and Cheyenne-Arapaho)
• Chinook Story directed by Erik Sanchez (Shoalwater Bay, Chinook, and Apache)
• The Participant directed by Peter Holt
• Mickey Dolan directed by Adensunset Levy
• Monarch directed by Michael Bozzuto (Taos Pueblo)
• Foresight directed by Brandon Martinez (Jicarilla Apache)
• Commodity directed by Rayne Kingfisher (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation)

Created by Gary Farmer and sponsored by IAIA, SFiFF’s Indigenous Film Program will include four features, eight shorts (in addition to the IAIA student shorts), and ten films from both the NM Film Program and the NM Shorts Program. Among those films is the short documentary Cara Romero: Following the Light, directed by Emmy Award-winning videographer Kaela Waldstein and executive produced by IAIA Assistant Professor of Art History Amber-Dawn Bear Robe (Siksika Nation) and IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts Director Dr. Lara Evans (Cherokee Nation), which explores Cara Romero’s (Chemehuevi Indian Tribe) ’05 contemporary photography practice. Another IAIA-related film, New: ART is Culture, CULTURE is Art, directed by IAIA alum Nathaniel Fuentes (Santa Clara Pueblo) ’20, focuses its lens on IAIA co-founder and first president Lloyd Kiva New’s (Cherokee Nation) enduring influence on Indigenous fashion and entrepreneurship.

Tickets to the IAIA Student Shorts showcase at CCA Studio are free but must be reserved. To learn more about the Santa Fe International Film Festival and its Indigenous Film Program, visit the SFiFF website.