The Native American Film and Video Festival was a noncompetitive showcase of film, video and audio productions. It was held biennially in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

from 1997 to 2011. Each festival screened between 50 and 80 documentaries, short features and animations, introduced by their producers and members of the native communities represented. Works to be featured in a given festival were chosen by a team of selectors made up of media makers and cultural activists from among

indigenous peoples of the Americas The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

and the program staff of the Film and Video Center of the

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National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

. Selectors have included indigenous film makers such as

Chris Eyre Chris Eyre (born 1968), an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, is an American film director and producer who as of 2012 is chairman of the film department at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. Films In 1998, Chris Eyre ...

Randy Redroad Randy Redroad is a film director, film editor, writer and songwriter. He is best known for his films ''The Doe Boy'' (2001) and ''Among Ravens'' (2014). Early life and education Redroad was born Randolph Kendall Snapp on Chanute Air Force Base in R ...

, and Nora Naranjo-Morse, and Native American cultural experts and academics such as G. Peter Jemison, Beverly Singer, and

Paul Apodaca Paul Apodaca (born in Los Angeles, California) is an associate professor of Anthropology and American Studies at Chapman University. Personal background Apodaca was born in Los Angeles and raised in Tustin, California. His father's family were f ...

. Founded in 1979, the Festival is internationally recognized as the first to feature Native productions from throughout

the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

and the Arctic Circle; indigenous media makers participate from Bolivia,

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Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, El Salvador,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and the

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(including

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External links

*https://americanindian.si.edu/explore/film-media Film festivals in New York City Native American film festivals Native American history of New York (state) Film festivals established in 1979 1979 establishments in New York City {{US-film-festival-stub