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 this film. Structured around the arc of a single day, the film follows four central figures: Gina Bluebird, who frames the powwow’s shape 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 who considers 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 and complicated community and a gesture toward the continuities of Native life.

See our retrospective presentation of Sky Hopinka in 2022.

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Sky Hopinka (b. 1984) is an artist, filmmaker, and poet. He is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and a descendant of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians. Hopinka studied at Portland State University and holds an MFA in Film, Video, Animation, and New Genres from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. In recent years, his films have been presented at numerous festivals and exhibitions worldwide, including the Whitney Biennial, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, New York Film Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and CPH.

Hopinka was a guest curator at the 2019 Whitney Biennial and participated in Cosmopolis #2 at the Centre Pompidou. He was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University (2018–2019), a Sundance Art of Nonfiction Fellow (2019), and a Guggenheim Fellow (2020).