2023 Schedule

Tuesday, November 14

  • Opening Night Industry Mixer November 14, 2023 @ 8:00 pm - 11:00 pm Godfrey Hotel Hollywood 1400 Cahuenga Blvd
    Los Angeles, CA 90028 United States     The 17th Annual LA SKINS FEST kicks off with the Opening Night Industry Mixer! Invited festival guests enjoy music, food and drinks amongst our community of filmmakers, NAMA fellows and artists. We use this opportunity to acknowledge the festival’s friends, family and greatest supporters. We will also celebrate another incredible year of developing a new... Read more » See Details

Wednesday, November 15

  • Native Writers Reception November 15, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm The LA SKINS FEST partners with the National Hispanic Media Coalition to celebrate the incredible achievements of this year’s indigenous fellows from both our prestigious writing programs. This event includes participants of the annual writers labs, unscripted workshop and animation initiatives. Grant recipients of the 2023 Native American Writer Accelerator Grant will also be presented... Read more » See Details

Thursday, November 16

7p - 10p: SHORTS PROGRAM 1

  • Screening Woman Who Blooms At Night November 16, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     Eve, a young Native woman disconnected from her tribe, longs for more than the confines of her home and her abusive boyfriend, Sid. She decides to volunteer at her tribe’s cultural center, where she begins to find out who she truly is. With this, Eve realizes she is already full of power; She must now... Read more » See Details
  • Screening Four Nights and a Fire November 16, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     A young Ojibwe photographer stubbornly takes on the responsibility of keeping a sacred fire alive for four consecutive days and nights in mourning of his father. His father’s spirit tries to reach him from the other side. See Details
  • Screening Do Digital Curanderas Use Eggs In Their Limpias? November 16, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     A struggling Latinx healer considers abandoning the physical world for promises of a digital utopia. See Details
  • Screening River Bank (Pō-Kehgeh) November 16, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     A Tewa woman struggles with guilt after stealing money from a local business. Her grandmother takes her to the River to remind her of Tewa values. The Tewa woman blesses herself with River water, and the River becomes her guide. Together, they give to the people. See Details
  • Screening Liberty of Jewels November 16, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     Gilbert Etsitty, a financially strained Navajo father, works in Gallup, New Mexico as a clerk for Jeff’s Trading Post. He is tested by his employer, Jeff, who is a manipulative boss that forces Gilbert to gain autonomy for the survival of his daughter’s relationship. See Details
  • Screening Camping November 16, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     “Camping” follows the story of Emma, an African American working homeless mother, and her 7-year-old daughter Gia, who live in their van. Emma works as a rideshare driver and struggles to make ends meet. One night, they take on their most difficult passenger yet, Jen who threatens to report Emma for having Gia with her.... Read more » See Details
  • Screening BUTTERFLY/BATAPLAI November 16, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     Raya loves makeup but her family does not. She’s torn between her secret dream of being a makeup artist and her family’s strict religious beliefs. In a nightmare, she receives a profound message from her Papua New Guinean ancestor who encourages her to look at her Indigenous culture for answers. See Details

Friday, November 17

  • NATIVE YOUTH MEDIA TOUR at WARNER BROS. STUDIOS November 17, 2023 @ 11:00 am - 2:00 pm This year, Native American youth will tour the historic Warner Bros Studios. Invited guests visit production sound stages, the studio backlot and learn about the many opportunities in the entertainment industry. The goal of the tour is to inspire the next generation of Native youth to explore media as a viable career and educational option.... Read more » See Details

5p: EMERGING FILMMAKER PROGRAM

  • Screening Isolation November 17, 2023 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     After her relationship fails, Nabaahii catches Covid-19 and finds herself forced to return to the Navajo Reservation from college. See Details
  • Screening Tell Me About Boarding School Shima Sani November 17, 2023 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     A Documentary short about a Firsthand Boarding School Survivor staring Vera Murphy, out of Crownpoint, NM. She is a first-generation student in her family along with many brothers and sisters. Sharing some her Boarding School Experiences in the New Mexico region. Having a deeper understanding of our past it is important, that we look to... Read more » See Details
  • Screening Stay on the Path November 17, 2023 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     Black-Native sister duo Lindy Vision work on new music for an upcoming album, while struggling to find balance in their home and concert life. Lindy Vision is a local new wave/synth-pop band in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dorothy and Natasha Cuylear make up the Black-Native (Jicarilla Apache) sister-duo band. They are currently anticipating their first album... Read more » See Details
  • Screening Destiny’s Lines November 17, 2023 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     Destiny wants to represent her people by drawing on chin tattoos, but the non native community around her doesn’t understand. See Details
  • Screening American Psycho November 17, 2023 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     Theres a new Patrick Bateman in town and she needs to quench her murderous appetite before dinner reservations at Dorsia. See Details
  • Screening O’odham Su:dag- The People’s Water November 17, 2023 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     Welcome to “O’odham Su:dag – The People’s Water,” a powerful short film by Indigenous Filmmaker Jasmine Lopez; sharing a profoundly personal and eye-opening account of her upbringing on the South Side of Tucson, where access to clean water was scarce, and its profound impact on the Tucson’s low-income community. In this thought-provoking documentary, Jasmine Lopez... Read more » See Details
  • Screening Spirit Girl November 17, 2023 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     A beautiful and haunting music video about First Nations Missing and Murdered Woman. No one deserves to leave this life that way. It is dedicated to my Auntie Roseanne, who was murdered and thrown into the Bow river See Details
  • Screening Epiphany Dream November 17, 2023 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     A twenty something woman is down on her luck. However when her meddling mom signs her up for barber college behind her back, she begins to question if her luck has changed. See Details
  • Screening Remember November 17, 2023 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     Native youth learn a valuable lesson about technology and connecting with culture. This production is part of the LA SKINS FEST Native Youth Media Workshop in collaboration with 7 Generations at United American Indian Involvement. See Details
  • Screening Choice Dorm November 17, 2023 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     Sherman Indian High School has a special place for truancy – CHOICE DORM! Chores, yard work, clean up and other duties meant to make you straighten up and fly right! Two students are stuck in the program and must make a choice. See Details

7p: FEATURE DOCUMENTARY

  • Screening Bad Press November 17, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     FRIDAY NIGHT MOVIE! Bad Press – When the Muscogee Nation suddenly begins censoring their free press, a rogue reporter fights to expose her government’s corruption in a historic battle that will have ramifications for all of Indian Country. Filmmaker Reception in the VIP Lounge at the Chinese Theater following the screening Q&A. In Partnership With... Read more » See Details

Saturday, November 18

  • 5th Annual Hollywood Pow Wow November 18, 2023 @ 11:00 am - 7:00 pm The LA SKINS FEST will host the 5th Annual Hollywood Pow Wow at the iconic courtyard at Ovation Hollywood. The Pow Wow takes place Saturday November 18th, 2023 starting at 11am. The event features traditional singing, dancing and youth performances from numerous tribes around the country. Located at the Ovation Hollywood Center Courtyard. For more information... Read more » See Details

12p: ANIMATION FILMS

2p: Indigenous Collective Film Program

4p: SHORT DOCUMENTARIES 1

  • Screening Ooxono (From Here) November 18, 2023 @ 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     This film by Isaac Michael Ybarra (Tongva, Chumash, Chicano), juxtaposes visual themes of decolonial cultural preservation and urban/invasive infrastructure. Ooxono (From Here) is a short poem pushing back against the use of the term Urban Native within the context of Tovaangar (Los Angeles) and the erasure it creates against First Peoples. Ooxono (O’o-ha-ono) translates/refers to... Read more » See Details
  • Screening Sahnish Survival Camp November 18, 2023 @ 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     This is a story about Whirlwind Bull Yellow Bear, and his quest to reconnect young boys and girls to their indigenous roots of living off the land. While relearning what it is to be independent in today’s society of fast paced living and technology. See Details
  • Screening My Whole Healthy Life – Meet Wa.Sta.Tse November 18, 2023 @ 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     Meet Wa.Sta.Tse and her family! Within their Native American community, they do many things to care for and support each other in being healthy, relaxed, and centered. Staying healthy isn’t just about going to the doctor! See Details
  • Screening Weaving A Legacy: Ella Mae Blackbear November 18, 2023 @ 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     Ella Mae Blackbear was named a Cherokee National Treasure in 1990 in basketry. We explore how her legacy lives on in the lives of those who knew her and others who are still studying her work today. See Details
  • Screening Figure It Out: AFP and Depression November 18, 2023 @ 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     In this short documentary, award-winning indie filmmaker Mike J. Marin (Navajo/Laguna Pueblo/Washoe) invites us into his struggle with trauma and depression and how the growing art of action figure photography saved his life in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic and how this new medium continues to serve as an artistic and creative therapy. See Details
  • Screening HEALING OF THE DRAGONFLY November 18, 2023 @ 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     Meet Joe Pulliam, an Oglala Lakota Sioux artist living in Rapid City in the state of South Dakota. Father of 4, Joe Pulliam opened an art gallery exclusively with his work, painting on ledgers inspired by his culture and traditional life. This documentary tells his story, and his artistic journey from Pine Ridge reservation, to... Read more » See Details
  • Screening MORE BOUNCE November 18, 2023 @ 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     More Bounce documents three Samoan men as they retell their journey of being bouncers in Southern California. As the men reflect on their experiences, they recall the ways in which the job often confronted them with violence, but also made way for them to forge relationships with other Samoans on the job. See Details
  • Screening Radio Bingo November 18, 2023 @ 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     To help revitalize the Mohawk language, a local reservation radio station incorporates the Mohawk language into a game of Radio Bingo. See Details
  • Screening Rescuing Tar Creek: Water Protector Rebecca Jim November 18, 2023 @ 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     Tar Creek, located in Northeastern Oklahoma, is one of the most heavily-polluted waterways in the United States. As a lifelong environmentalist, Cherokee Nation citizen Rebecca Jim has devoted her life to cleaning up Tar Creek by holding Cherokee values and her kinship with the land at the forefront of her battle to save our precious... Read more » See Details
  • Screening KA ʻĀʻUMEʻUME: NAVIGATING HOME November 18, 2023 @ 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     Six Kānaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiians) share their voyages in and out of diaspora. Their collective moʻolelo (story) wades through hope, grief, wisdom, and the effects of the illegal occupation of their homeland. They share the pull they have felt to return to Hawaiʻi and ka ʻāʻumeʻume (the struggle) to stay. See Details

7p: SHORTS PROGRAM 2

  • Screening Work is Ceremony November 18, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     A short dance film exploring the love of Rick Bartow and Julie Swan. See Details
  • Screening If I Ever Get Out of Here November 18, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     After waking up alone in a forest and determined to find a way out, a young Native artist finds company in a mysterious voice on the other end of a walkie-talkie as she is tormented by an ominous hooded monster. See Details
  • Screening Not Afraid November 18, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     After a blow-up during basketball practice, Olivia struggles to face a deeper devastating reality in rural Montana. See Details
  • Screening Redlights November 18, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     An evening out takes a dramatic turn for two Indigenous women, Tina and Amber, when Amber is suddenly taken into police custody. Fearing the worst, Tina tails the cruiser outside city limits and makes a courageous choice to free her friend. See Details
  • Screening SNACK November 18, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     On a night out with friends, Jess briefly opens up about the grief she’s continuing to process in the aftermath of her grandfather’s death. She decides to go home early and while rummaging around in the kitchen for something to eat, startles her grandmother and the two share a sweet moment through food and song,... Read more » See Details
  • Screening Terror/Forming November 18, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     Set over the course of one evening, Parker and his boyfriend, Darren, find themselves detoured on their trip and going towards Parker’s late kokum’s cabin. The men make a disturbing discovery which creates tension within the pairs already unhealthy relationship. Shot in one continuous take, Terror/Forming, will show paranoia, anxiety and tension bubbling to the... Read more » See Details
  • Screening Two Worlds November 18, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     A father and daughter search for their missing loved one on the Salt River Indian Reservation. See Details
  • Screening Burning of the Gods November 18, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     An airplane lands. A massive cruise boat anchors off the reef, disgorging tourists for tropical island vacations. This postcard paradise depends on petroleum imports to fuel its cars, motorbikes, boats, hotels, pumps and machinery. Yet if the tourists stopped coming, what then? The film opens with the prophetic words of Niuean artist John Pule and... Read more » See Details
  • Screening MONSTR November 18, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm TCL Chinese Theatre #6 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
    Hollywood, 90028     + Google Map     How do you go on living when everything is taken from you in the blink of an eye? A young artist confronts his inner demons while apprenticing with a northwest totem carver after the death of his beloved. See Details

Sunday, November 19

11am: SHORT DOCUMENTARIES 2

4p: SHORT PROGRAM 3