Photos: POWWOW PEOPLE Documentary to Screen in New York and Los Angeles
The vérité-style film invited dancers, singers, vendors, and community members to help make it.
COUSIN presents visual artist and filmmaker Sky Hopinka's sophomore feature documentary, POWWOW PEOPLE, screening in New York City from September 11 – 17 at The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), and in Los Angeles on October 12 at Vidiots.
POWWOW PEOPLE is a vérité-style documentary grounded in the rhythms, relationships, and lived experience of a contemporary Native gathering. Rather than entering as outside observers, the filmmakers organized the powwow itself, inviting dancers, singers, vendors, and community members to participate in the making of the film. Structured around the arc of a single day, it follows four central figures: Gina Bluebird, who shapes the powwow's form and guides its setup; Ruben Littlehead, the MC whose presence anchors the present moment; Jamie John, a non-binary dancer imagining the future of these traditions; and Freddie Cozad, a singer and drummer reflecting on the past. The film culminates in a 30-minute unbroken shot of a Northern Traditional dance special, drawing the viewer into the textures, movement, and collective presence of the powwow. It is both a reflection of a beloved community and a gesture toward the continuities of Native life.
Directed with humor and intimacy by Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk/Pechanga), POWWOW PEOPLE places audiences inside the vibrant orbit of the iconic Native gathering while rethinking how it can be seen and experienced on screen. Subverting the extractive lens of ethnography, the film embraces a model of collaboration and co-creation with its participants.
Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians) is a filmmaker and artist whose work explores Indigenous homeland, language, and cultural continuity through experimental and nonfiction media. His films have screened at Sundance, Toronto International Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival, among others. Hopinka's work has been featured in the Whitney Biennial and the Centre Pompidou. He is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow and a past recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Radcliffe Institute, and Sundance Institute.
Theatrical Screenings
New York City — September 11th - 17th @ The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)
Tickets: https://www.bam.org/film/2026/powwow-people
*Q&A with Sky Hopinka to follow 7:00pm screenings on 9/11 and 9/12.
Los Angeles — October 12th @ Vidiots
Tickets on sale soon.
*Q&A with Sky Hopinka to follow the screening.
About Cousin
COUSIN is a collective supporting Indigenous artists expanding the form of film. COUSIN creates and supports work that is personal, proudly provocative, and driven by strong, artistic voices, and states that it celebrates this work and gets it made, seen and shared. Founded in 2018 by Sky Hopinka, Adam Khalil, Alexandra Lazarowich and Adam Piron, COUSIN was created to provide support for Indigenous artists expanding traditional definitions and understandings of the moving image by experimenting with form and genre.
Credits
Directed by | Sky Hopinka
Subjects | Gina Bluebird-Stacona (Lakota), Ruben Little Head (Cheyenne), Jamie John (Anishinaabe), Paula Shebala (Blackfeet/Choctaw), Tyus Beebe (Blood Reserve), Black Lodge Singers and Cozad (Northern and Southern Host Drums, respectively)
Producers | John Cardellino, Adam Piron (Kiowa/Mohawk)
Executive Producers | Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Muscogee), Rachel Chanoff, Noah Bashevkin
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