07/01/2026
TONIGHT at Zinema 2, ZMFF 2026 ReRun: Indigenous Shorts! $5 tickets, FREE for Indigenous community members!
A replay of a selection of Indigenous short films from the 2026 Zeitgeist Minnesota Film Festival. Explore storytelling from this year’s Indigenous and First Nation filmmakers.
Shorts Program | 1h 50m
ONE: A Spoken Word | 7m 24s
"What I am about to read, is not poetry...." Based on my multi-part spoken-word piece about the time Crazy Horse visited me at my apartment.
Directed by Ernest M Whiteman III
Corn Husk Doll | 14m 4s
The story of a young, beautiful girl who neglects her community responsibilities. Despite warnings from the animals, she becomes distracted by her own reflection and slowly begins to turn into a corn husk doll with no face. This story reminds us to be humble, and to fulfill our responsibilities to our families, clan, and community.
Directed by Yuma Hester
Ripple Effects | 4m 46s
Ripple Effects explores the deep and irreplaceable connection between clean water and Minnesota’s communities, culture, and future. Highlighting the sacred Ojibwe maple sugar traditions of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, the film demonstrates how clean water has shaped Minnesota’s past, present, and future.
Directed by Lynn Melling and Ian Planchon
Facing the Storm: Mazaska Talks | 11m 53s
Mazaska Talks explores the rise of the divestment movement in Seattle as part of the strategy to fight the Dakota Access Pipeline. Hear from the co-founders of Mazaska Talks, a Seattle based Indigenous led grassroots organization focused on protecting Indigenous rights, as they discuss the divestment movement as a tool to combat the destruction of sacred sites and the climate crisis.
Directed by Mikayla Gingrey
Blue Silence | 7m 8s
A beach day follows Jaci, a troubled teenager, embarking on a journey of self-discovery of the freedom found within the ocean waters.
Directed by The Oliva Sisters: Krista Luisa Olivarez and Clarissa Brianna Olivarez
The Boom | 11m 48s
An Indigenous man investigates a mysterious sound echoing through the city that reverberates through space and time.?
Directed by Ajuawak Kapashesit
Nothing is here. | 3m 50s
Summer Wetherby just wants to be a kid and hangout with her friends, but she is given responsibilities she isn't old enough to have and it is taking a toll on her. She rant's to an entity in a cage in the basement of her school about the troubles of her life, like having to protect this cage from monsters.
Directed by Clementine Jones
COYWOLF | 14m 56s
Visually steeped in Nahua culture and woven with Indigenous symbolism. Jaime walks home and finds more than he was looking for after a night of too many drinks and microaggressions. He is unjustly picked up by the police and while detained, experiences visions and symbols of his repressed heritage.
Directed by ZAPATA
Let My People Go Skiing | 17m 49s
Confronted with the frustration of false narratives and intergenerational trauma that surround her, Tlingit skier and scientist Ellen Bradley returns to her traditional homelands in Southeast Alaska. Here, she uses skiing as a tool to reclaim her connection to the land she belongs to.
Directed by Ellen Bradley
Ish Meets a Mermaid | 16m 15s
In the lakeside city of Duluth, some legends are older than America. An artist in a slump meets a mysterious woman from a realm beneath Lake Superior and finds success in the last place he ever expected - death.
Directed by Jonathan Thunder
