Sandra Hale Schulman
ICT
The latest: Films of note, actors go nuts, art in metal and ribbons
FILM: A winner at SXSW
The documentary film, “Ceremony,” directed by Indigenous filmmaker Banchi Hanuse, won the South By Southwest Documentary Spotlight Audience Award on March 20 in Austin, Texas.
The film tells the story of the impact on a community by the disappearance of the oolichan fish, a spelt-like fish known as a candlefish because of its high fat content. The fishes’ return to the community can mean the difference between life and starvation in the winter.
When the oolichan vanish from Bella Coola River, their absence sears the community that depends on it. A local radio broadcast begins unveiling mysterious forces, becoming testimony, brought to visual life with watercolor animation and rare archival images.
It tells a story of the fish’s return, and survival of a nation.
Hanuse, the director, said that the film lets the radio broadcast “speak from inside the community.”
He said the station was founded the same year as he began filming.
“One of its first major broadcasts was the lead-up to the Sputc ceremony, (a revived Nuxalk tradition to welcome the return of the oolichan fish) which was also our first shoot day in 2014,” Hanuse said.
“Even though radio wasn’t the spine from the start, it became the right structure in the edit because the story is fundamentally about Nuxalk law and responsibility.”
BEAUTY: N8IV Beauty takes Hollywood
Oscars week in Los Angeles brings out the giving spirit of awards and invitations to events aimed at the creative community. An event at the Cameo Hotel in Beverly Hills on March 12, invited celebrated actors to experience new products.
Produced by Heather Marianna, the all-day penthouse gifting lounge — with stunning views of Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles — featured a variety of products from wellness to books to a med spa.
Ruth Ann Thorn, right, founder of N8IV Beauty, and her assistant, Isabella Rose, attend the Oscars Gifting event at the Cameo Hotel ahead of the 2026 Academy Awards in March. Credit: Photo by Sandra Hale Schulman/Special to ICT
A first for the event was N8IV Beauty, the Allure Beauty award-winning first Native American skincare line based on acorn oil, from entrepreneur Ruth-Ann Thorn, Rincon.
Thorn told ICT how the invitation came about.
“We were at Skinsfest Film Festival and one of our customers had given our name to Heather, so we sent her a beauty box,” Thorn said. “And she said, ‘Oh my gosh, this will be perfect because nobody’s ever seen any Native American anything at these gifting events.’”
Thorn and her assistant, Isabella Rose, set up a table with her upscale products while decked out in Jamie Okuma wrap dresses. They spent all day talking about the products and gifting them to the actors.
“It was most interesting to hear people ask, ‘Can I use this if I’m not Native American?’” Thorn said. “Nobody asks that question if they’re looking at any other type of skin care, but when you’re talking about plant medicine, plants are plants. The beauty of plants is the products are alive, they’re not over-processed. They have the ability to morph themselves to whatever is happening with that person’s skin.That’s what it’s all based on, that communication between the body cell and the plant cell. That’s something we’ve known as Native People. That’s why they are relatives, because they’re part of our ecosystem.”
The event was a business success for N8IV Beauty.
“We met a lot of really great people and we’re getting some celebrity endorsements,” Thorn said. “I’ve gotten a lot of direct messages already.”
Thorn was on TV in San Diego as part of National Women’s History Month and received a Woman of Distinction Award from Mayor Todd Gloria and Councilman Steven Whitburn. She and N8IV Beauty have been invited back to the Emmys Gifting event in November in New York City.
As for receiving the award, she said, “A lot of it was tied to buying the building in downtown San Diego and opening the Native Star Boutique and EC Galleries. I’m also filming the second season of ‘This is Indian Country’ for FNX.”
ART: The power of three
Artist Nanibah Chacon, Diné and Chicana, unveiled three sculptures at the Whitney Museum Biennial that “draw on the geometric visual similarities between the sand paintings of Diné gods and electrical towers used by coal refineries on the Navajo Nation,” the museum said in a statement.
Three sculptures by artist Nanibah Chacon are on exhibit at the Whitney Museum Biennial, drawing on similarities between Navajo sand paintings and electrical towers. Credit: Photo by Audrey Wang, courtesy of the Whitney Museum
Called “Our Gods Are Above Us,” “Our Gods Are Among Us,” and “Our Gods Are Below Us,” the stunning trio reside outside on a terrace, enhanced with hanging giant jingle cones and forms that resemble Apache Crown Dancer headdresses.
Chacon saw the miles of towers in New Mexico and has transformed the environmental blight into a new spirit-centric narrative. After the Biennial closes, one of the sculptures will be installed on the land of the Navajo Nation.
For another inspired trio on the other side of Turtle Island in the Anza Borrego Desert in California, Gerald Clarke, Cahuilla, had help from his tribe and family to inaugurate his new public trio sculpture, “Desert Dance,” with Cahuilla bird song and dance on their people’s ancestral land in Borrego Springs.
A trio of sculptures by artist Gerald Clarke, Cahuilla, was inspired by the ribbon skirts of bird dancers. Credit: Courtesy photo
“Desert Dance” was inspired by the swirling ribbon skirts of bird dancers, and the sculptures are activated by the wind sweeping through the valley. The three “skirts” are suspended by wire on a pole and are a monument to the cultural continuity of traditions on Cahuilla ancestral land.
“I got very well acquainted with my sewing machine creating the work,” Clarke said.
FILM: ‘The 7th’
A potential future feature winner was the focus of a panel at the Reservation Economic Summit’s “Rising Together” conference at the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development in Las Vegas March 23-26 at Caesar’s Palace.
Celebrated actor Gary Farmer, Six Nations, has been tapped as the first cast member for an upcoming film, “The 7th,” an independent science-fiction film that examines potential Indigenous impact on climate change. Credit: Courtesy photo
Members of “The 7th” movie team met with investors and others attending RES. Celebrated actor Gary Farmer, Six Nations, was recently announced as the first cast member in the supporting role of Grandpa Hotah.
The premise of the independent, science-fiction feature film is intriguing. Piper, the 14-year-old mixed heritage Lakota daughter of a climate scientist, discovers a trove of messages from her deceased Lakota mother. She then leaves the safety of the technology world and embarks on a journey to the Black Hills, where her grandparents have been hiding and protecting preserved DNA.
The DNA, in the right hands, could restore biodiversity on the planet, but Piper must first survive the journey and outsmart a federal agent on her trail. The film is set for pre-production in early 2027.
RES featured more than 70 sessions, a trade show, an artisan market, and support for Indigenous businesses and tribal enterprises.
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