American Indian Film Festival

American Indian Film Festival
Location	San Francisco, California, U.S.
Founded	1975
Festival date	November
Website	http://www.aifisf.com/

The American Indian Film Festival is an annual non-profit film festival in San Francisco, California, United States. It is the world's oldest venue dedicated solely to Native American/First Nations films and prepared the way for the 1979 formation of the American Indian Film Institute.

According to the Institute,^[1] the Festival was first presented in Seattle, Washington in 1975 and moved in 1977 to San Francisco, where it remains today. In 1979, the Festival was incorporated.

Over 3,100 films have been screened from Native American/First Nations communities in the U.S. and Canada, and the festival includes events such as film screenings, panel discussions, an awards ceremony and networking events.^[2]

This festival is not to be confused by the Native American Film and Video Festival, which was founded in 1979.

Winners[edit]

Best Film[edit]

Year	Film	Producers	Ref
1987	Loyalties	William Johnston and Ronald Lillie
1988	Journey to Spirit Island	Bruce D. Clark and Rodger Spero
1989	Powwow Highway	Jan Weiringa
1990	Dances With Wolves	Jim Wilson and Kevin Costner
1992	Incident at Oglala	Arthur Chobanian
1993	Medicine River	Barbara Allinson, John Danylkiw and Arvi Liimatainen
1994	Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee	Fred Berner
1995	Dance Me Outside	Brian Dennis
1996	Grand Avenue	Tony To
1998	Smoke Signals	Larry Estes
1999	Unbowed	Lisa Karadjian and Nanci Rossov
2000	Backroads	Shirley Cheechoo, Phyllis Ellis and Christine K. Walker
2001	The Doe Boy	Chris Eyre and Anthony Vozza
2002	Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner	Paul Apak Angilirq, Norman Cohn, Zacharias Kunuk and Germaine Wong
2003	Dreamkeeper	Ron McLeod and Matthew O'Connor
2004	Edge of America	Chris Eyre and Willy Holtzman
2005	Johnny Tootall	Cynthia Chapman and Danielle Prohom Olson
2006	Expiration Date	John Forsen and Rick Stevenson
2007	Imprint	Chris Eyre and Michael Linn
2008	Before Tomorrow	Stéphane Rituit
2009	Barking Water	Chad Burris
2010	A Windigo Tale	Armand Garnet Ruffo	^[3]
2011	Shouting Secrets	Josef Ueli Bollag and Korinna Sehringer
2012	Mesnak	Reginald Vollant
2013	Maïna	Yves Fortin and Karine Martin
2014	Drunktown's Finest	Chad Burris and Mateo Frazier
2015	Mekko	Chad Burris and Jasper Zweibel
2016	Before the Streets	Chloé Leriche
2017	Wind River	Elizabeth A. Bell, Peter Berg, Matthew George, Basil Iwanyk and Wayne L. Rogers
2018	Angelique's Isle	Amos Adetuyi, Dave Clement, Michelle Derosier and Floyd Kane
2019	Edge of the Knife	Jonathan Frantz
2020	Monkey Beach	Loretta Todd, Patti Poskitt, Carla Robinson, Fred Fuchs, Matthew O'Connor, Lisa Richardson	^[4]
2021	Run Woman Run	David Conlon, Paula Devonshire, Bruce Fleming, Zoe Leigh Hopkins, Laura Milliken, Paul Moyer, Dan Nanticoke, PJ Thornton	^[5]
2022	Broken Angel	Patti Poskitt, Jules Arita Koostachin, Anne Wheeler	^[6]

Best Director[edit]

Year	Director	Film	Ref
2001	Randy Redroad	The Doe Boy
2002	Zacharias Kunuk	Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
2003	Norma Bailey	Cowboys and Indians: The J.J. Harper Story
2004	Chris Eyre	Edge of America
2005	Aaron James Sorensen	Hank Williams First Nation
2006	Zacharias Kunuk, Norman Cohn	The Journals of Knud Rasmussen
2007	Sterlin Harjo	Four Sheets to the Wind
2008	Georgina Lightning	Older Than America
2009	Kevin Wilmott	The Only Good Indian
2010	Jeremy Torrie	A Flesh Offering	^[3]
2011	Andrew Okpeaha MacLean	On the Ice
2012	Jeremy Torrie	Path of Souls
2013	Alex Smith, Andrew J. Smith	Winter in the Blood
2014	Jeff Barnaby	Rhymes for Young Ghouls
2015	Chloe Zhao	Songs My Brothers Taught Me
2016	Nathan Frankowski	Te Ata
2017	Marie Clements	The Road Forward
2018	Zoe Leigh Hopkins	Kayak to Klemtu
2019	Marie Clements	Red Snow
2020	Loretta Todd	Monkey Beach	^[4]
2021	Trevor Mack	Portraits from a Fire	^[5]
2022	Jason Brennan	The Inhuman	^[6]

Best Actor[edit]

Year	Actor	Film	Ref
2001	James Duval	The Doe Boy
2002	Natar Ungalaaq	Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
2003	August Schellenberg'	Dreamkeeper
2004	George Leach	Distant Drumming
2005	Adam Beach	Johnny Tootall
2006	Robert A. Guthrie	Expiration Date
2007	Cody Lightning	Four Sheets to the Wind
2008	Trevor Duplessis	In a World Created by a Drunken God
2009	Wes Studi	The Only Good Indian
2010	John Cook	Of Mice and Men	^[3]
2011	Chaske Spencer	Shouting Secrets
2012	Victor Andrés Trelles Turgeon	Mesnak
2013	Chaske Spencer	Winter in the Blood
2014	Glen Gould	Rhymes for Young Ghouls
2015	Rod Rondeaux	Mekko
2016	Gil Birmingham	Te Ata
2017	Graham Greene	Wind River
2018	Lorne Cardinal	Kayak to Klemtu
2019	Tyler York	Edge of the Knife
2020	Adam Beach	Monkey Beach	^[4]
2021	Stormee Kipp	Sooyii	^[5]
2022	Samian	The Inhuman	^[6]

Best Actress[edit]

Year	Actress	Film	Ref
2001	Jeri Arredondo	The Doe Boy
2002	Lucy Tulugarjuk	Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
2003	Alex Rice	Coyote Waits
2004	Tina Keeper	Distant Drumming
2005	Stacy Da Silva	Hank Williams First Nation
2006	Andrea Menard	The Velvet Devil
2007	Tonantzin Carmelo	Imprint
2008	Candy Fox	Moccasin Flats: Redemption
2009	Casey Camp-Horinek	Barking Water
2010	Andrea Menard	A Windigo Tale	^[3]
2011	Michelle St. John	Every Emotion Costs
2012	Ève Ringuette	Mesnak
2013	Roseanne Supernault	Maïna
2014	Cara Gee	Empire of Dirt
2015	Ève Ringuette	Le Dep
2016	Imajyn Cardinal	The Saver
2017	Devery Jacobs	The Sun at Midnight
2018	Julia Jones	Angelique's Isle
2019	Lake Delisle	Rustic Oracle
2020	Grace Dove	Monkey Beach	^[4]
2021	Dakota Ray Hebert	Run Woman Run	^[5]
2022	Sera-Lys McArthur	Broken Angel	^[6]