The film threads together four stories, taking us into the life of a stressed-out Mohawk stockbroker in Manhattan; a young Inupiat girl sent to live with her grandmother in Barrow, Alaska; a Navajo gang member who must find his core values in his reservation on the mesas of New Mexico; and a Quechua healer in Peru, attempting to save a sick child. Each story explores what it means to belong to a specific community. A Thousand Roads is a fictional work, produced by National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) to explore the human context of the NMAI’s collections. The film is striking visually, and presents through its beauty and its stories an imaginative entry into knowing about Native people living in the vast indigenous geography that comprises the Americas. Rather than presenting a conventional historical perspective, the film is composed of short contemporary fictions about individuals, grounding them in emotional truths to which an audience can easily relate.
In the hills of Costa Rica, Doña Carmen struggles to pass on her tribe's traditional ways of life. She must soon marry off her only granddaughter, and 70-year-old shaman Don Claudio lays his claim to the girl, who is only 12 and already impregnated by him. When the girl befriends the young son of a visiting anthropologist, it forces a collision between the modern world and the ancient one.
In a small town in the Canadian Arctic, Ippik, a young Inuit woman, suffers in an abusive relationship. She starts to heal when she connects with other victims of violence and finds her voice.
Nunkui is 13 years old and lives in an Amazonian Shuar community with her grandparents, uncles and cousins. She frequently dreams of the feminine spirit of the garden, named Nunkui like her. The girl does not know this spirit, she does not understand her dreams and is afraid; she fears that it is a dangerous spirit, an Iwianch. Curiosity, anguish and food shortages lead Nunkui to discover the knowledge of Rosa, her great-aunt, who still cultivates a traditional garden (aja shuar). Little by little, the garden and the sacred songs (anents) become a refuge for the young woman.
A golden object mystifies a young man living in a traditional Solomon Islands village. He dreams of going to the city and wakes up in a nightmare that changes his life forever.
Through her child’s eyes, Patpro will go through three periods of the history of her indigenous people, in the heart of the Brazilian forest. Tirelessly persecuted, but guided by their ancestral rites, their love of nature and their fight to preserve their freedom, the Krahô never stop inventing new forms of resistance.
An Indigenous teenage boy fights through distorting realities as a family secret unravels.
In an isolated community, a young indigenous woman fights for her freedom after enduring sexual assaults. Confronted with a life-altering decision, she stands at a crossroads between resisting or forging a path away from the shackles of violence.
The 6 Guarani villages of Jaraguá, in São Paulo, fight for land rights, for human rights and for the preservation of nature. They suffer from the proximity to the city, which brings lack of resources, pollution of rivers and springs, racism, police violence, fires, lack of infrastructure and sanitation, among others. Unable to live like their ancestors, their millenary culture is lost as it merges with the urban culture.
Dutch coach Thomas Rongen attempts the nearly impossible task of turning the American Samoa soccer team from perennial losers into winners.
Alifu, a 25 year-old Paiwan boy, works as a hair-dresser in Taipei and struggles between his dream of getting a sex change operation and following his father’s footsteps to inherit the title as Chief of the indigenous Paiwan tribe. His lesbian roommate, Pei-Zhen, is also his best friend and confidante. Sherry, a transgender man, is the owner of a drag queen bar. For years, Sherry has been in love with the plumber, Wu, even though Wu only sees him as his buddy. Chris, a civil servant, lives a dull life. A one-time gig as a drag queen in the bar unexpectedly becomes his unique and secret way to relief stress. Chris has no choice but to keep this gig a secret from his girlfriend Angie. Across different genders and sexualities, the only common ground these people share is their search for love, understanding and acceptance. (Source: Golden Village)
Photo poetry of Bunchanawingʉmʉ Jesús Camilo Niño Izquierdo' piece of lost feelings in the Arhuaco Indigenous Reservation, northern Colombia.
Pedro, an indigenous migrant, returns to his village for his mother's funeral. When he learns of the serious problem his brother Ismael is involved in, he decides to stay and face the consequences of his absence.
Living in the countryside of the Amazon in Brazil, Argentinian María divides herself between two lives: in the community, where she lives with Dona Belém and her son, and on her suspicious trips.
In a remote Peruvian city, lives Honorata Vilca, an illiterate woman of Quechua descent who sells candies more than 20 years ago, with the rain will cry to the sky itself.
Yimin, the son of a carriage driver of Xinjiang ethnicity, is in love with Malihan. Malihan's father despises Yimin for his lowly background and forces his daughter to marry Bulate. Min then leaves town for development for 5 years and comes back as an army officer. However, Han has been forced to engage with Te. With Han defying the arrangement, Te challenges Min to a duel. Min catches the bullet meant for Te and wins him and Han's father to his side. But when war beckons, he sacrifices love to join the army. After the war, Min goes back to his hometown but everything has changed. Han and her whole family have gone without a trace. Min can only recall the past alone.
Based on the eponymous novel by Ciro Alegría. An indigenous community living their day-to-day and their relationship with nature. They can be reimagined as hungry dogs.
This cinematic VR experience offers insights into the struggles and conflicts of growing up an Indigenous man.
Still working through the grief of losing her only child, Thelma, a young Blackfeet woman in Browning, MT, is taken advantage of by friends who use her as de facto child care while they continue to live the freewheeling lifestyles they had before becoming parents.
Following her sister's disappearance, Jax and her niece Roki must stick together. Desperate to keep what's left of their family intact, Jax and Roki defy the law and hit the road on a journey to the Grand Nation Powwow in Oklahoma City.