MAPS Film Screening

MAPS Media Institute
Native Content Film Screening

In partnership with the Montana DPHHS Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, MAPS is excited to share three films in honor of Native American Heritage Month


In This Together, We are One

Official Selection
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (2020)

American bison were pushed to the brink of extinction in the late 1800’s, and with them, an entire Indigenous culture was nearly destroyed. Now, the Dakota and Nakoda people are re-connecting their youth to a culture that many thought was lost forever. In their efforts, they bring hope, healing, and unity to a new generation. 

The Buffalo Unity Project is a program created by Poplar Middle School on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana. The goal is to connect students with the buffalo’s importance to the Dakota and Nakoda people. In addition students learn how their communities thrive when they are united.

Written and filmed by the students of Poplar Middle School, this film was produced in collaboration with MAPS Media Institute. The MAPS Media Lab taught students how to direct interviews, record sound, and operates camera and lighting over one week in the Spring of 2019. MAPS then worked with Poplar Middle School to edit and finish the film.

This film was made possible with support from Greater Montana Foundation, and MAPS Media Institute.


Looking Forward from Yesterday

Winner: Short Form Non-Fiction
Regional Student Production Award
National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NW (2020)

Official Selection, Heart Award
Portland International Film Festival (2020)

Official Selection
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (2020)

In this short documentary, people of the Aaniiih and Nakoda Tribes of all generations pay tribute to their enduring culture. Conceived, filmed, and edited by high school students at Harlem High School in northern Montana, this film is a powerful and intimate story of the struggle to preserve a way of life.

The Aaniih and Nakoda People work in ways large and small every day to preserve – and in some cases resurrect – their culture in modern-day life. Elder generations strive to teach their young the values of family, community, and sense of place. And although modern life consumes the attention of today’s generations, many are open and ready to learn and preserve their heritage, which has existed for thousands of years.

This film was made possible with support from Montana Gear Up and the Greater Montana Foundation. It results from a partnership between Harlem High School (Harlem, Montana) and MAPS Media Institute.


Waking the Generations

Submissions Pending… Stay tuned!

Waking the Generations is a documentary by students of Harlem High School near Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. 

In this film, Harlem High School students shine a light on the painful and hidden details of their ancestral past as a way to help others understand why their heritage should never be allowed to fade away. 

Filmed during Native American Week in 2019, this socially relevant film connects how cultural identification today not only honors the past but also has the ability to save and preserve an entire way of life for future generations.

Waking the Generations was produced by MAPS Media Institute with support from Island Mountain Development Group, Montana GEAR Up, and Greater Montana Foundation.


Q&A with Amilia Blackcrow

Student Filmmaker Amilia Blackcrow was the not only the Director of Waking the Generations but was also a Topic Content Contributor, and Interviewee for the film.

Amilia’s filmmaking talents have earned statewide recognition and has made her a recipient of the MAPS Media Institute Jake Rowley Merit Award. Amilia received this award because she is a creative and technical artist who believes in harnessing the power of media arts to impact her community and the wider world.

After participating in two films produced by MAPS and Milk River Productions, she has shown her ability to think through complex thematic issues and communicate them in the documentary film medium.