Events
Kin Theory is hosting a series of Indigenous media creative events to highlight the importance of databases and communities dedicated to the global majority, as well as people with disabilities, people who are Two Spirit, trans, femme, nonbinary, people who are undocumented, people who are LGBTQIA+, and more. Watch this space and Nia Tero’s social media for new events at international film festivals, academic conferences, community events, and more with our mission-aligned partners
Courtesy of Kiliii Yuyan (Nanai/Hezhe)

Calendar
Kin Theory Office Hours with BGDM
Thursday, May 18, 2023, at 10 – 11 am PDT
BDGM is a powerful community of BIPOC women and non-binary professionals transforming the documentary industry. They work to disrupt inequity in the film industry by nurturing, amplifying, and investing in the creative capacity and professional success of our members. We love how BGDM works transparently and ethically to support their members, and we learn from them every day as we build Kin Theory. We’re excited to talk with them about the ways in which our work overlaps and compliments each other.
This conversation is FREE, VIRTUAL, and OPEN to Kin Theory members, BGDM members, and friends up to do the work of opening up and strengthening the film and TV industry. Join us if you want to learn more about BGDM, if you think you might benefit from what BGDM has to offer, or if you just like seeing rad people in conversation with each other. Learn more about BGDM on their website: browngirlsdocmafia.org/
Our Kin Theory events are free and virtual, but you have to register to receive the Zoom link for the event. REGISTER HERE.
Kin Theory Office Hours with Indigenous@Netflix
Thursday, June 15, 2023, at 10 – 11 am PDT
Indigenous@Netflix is an affinity group within Netflix that provides support for the Indigenous creators who work for the company.
During this session, learn a little bit about what it means to hold Indigenous identity while working at one of biggest streamers (and studios) in the world, and get tips on what to have in your toolkit if you find yourself in a position to pitch to Netflix.
This conversation is FREE, VIRTUAL, and OPEN to Kin Theory members and friends up to do the work of opening up and strengthening the film and TV industry. Respectful questions are welcome; pitches will not be accepted by the Netflix representative present for this event.
Our Kin Theory events are free and virtual, but you have to register to receive the Zoom link for the event. REGISTER HERE.
Past Events
Kin Theory Office Hours with Erin Lau
Thursday, April 20, 2023, at 10am PT
Join us on Thursday, April 20, 2023, at 10am PT for our next virtual Kin Theory Office Hours event, which will center around a beautiful conversation around the career and imagination of Native Hawaiian filmmaker and Kin Theory member Erin Lau.
Our Kin Theory events are free and virtual, but you have to register to receive the Zoom link for the event. REGISTER HERE.
Kin Theory Office Hours
Thursday, March 16, 2023, at 10am PT
Kin Theory Office Hours
Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 10am PT
Kin Theory Office Hours session are always free, always virtual, and always on the 3rd Thursday of each month. You have to reserve your spot via our Eventbrite link to receive a link to the Zoom session.
Kin Theory DocShop Panel at Big Sky: Caring for Story by Caring for Community
Thursday, February 23, 2023, 11:30AM MT
Kin Theory is headed to Big Sky Documentary Film Festival for the third year in a row! Headed to Missoula in February? Join us!
In the Kin Theory DocShop panel “Caring for Story by Caring for Community,” filmmaker and Nia Tero Managing Director, Storytelling, Tracy Rector will guide a conversation about Indigenous filmmaking practices that center community and accountability that invite respectful collaboration, authentic storytelling, and narrative sovereignty. Our generous panelists including the following Kin Theory members: filmmaker Victoria Cheyenne (Tsitsistas/Aymara), whose film Learning I’m Home is screening at the festival; filmmaker, author, and photographer Ramona Emerson (Navajo Nation), whose novel Shutter was published in 2022; filmmaker David Hernández Palmar (Wayuu, IIPUANA Clan) from If Not Us Then Who? and Reciprocity Project; and Ivan MacDonald (Blackfeet), whose film Snqʷeyłmistn: the place where you do your best is screening at the festival.
This an IN-PERSON event at the 2023 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, MT. Don’t forget to check out the films at this year’s festival, as well as the great DocShop events at BigSkyFilmFest.org.
Kin Theory at InDigital Conference / Mother Tongue Film Festival
Thursday, February 23 – 26, 2023, Washington, D.C.
Kin Theory Community Conversation (Virtual)
Thursday, January 19, 2023 – 11am PT/ 1 – 2 PM ET
oin the Kin Theory team for the first virtual Office Hours of 2023! Our guest will be Kin Theory member Ciara Lacy, a Native Hawaiian documentary filmmaker whose work has been screened at Sundance and Berlinale, as well as seen on Netflix, PBS, Al Jazeera, and more. Ciara produced the film Is That Black Enough for You?!?, now available on Netflix, and is a Sundance 2022 Momentum Filmmaker Fellow. But there is MUCH more to Ciara’s story, and we can’t wait for you to meet her. Learn more about Ciara on her website, and connect with her on Instagram!
Kin Theory virtual meet-ups happen on the third Thursday of each month at 10amPT / 1pmET. These get-togethers are for current Kin Theory members, Indigenous creators who are thinking about joining the online community, or non-Indigenous folks interested in working collaboratively and respectfully with members of Kin Theory in support of narrative sovereignty. We can’t wait to see you!
Kin Theory Office Hours
Thursday, November 17, 2022 10 – 11am PT/ 1 – 2 PM ET
For Indigenous creatives, creating film and television in community is key to centering culture and tradition, but how do you translate your story from script to screen? One important team member to add to your crew: a storyboard artist.
Join us for our next #KinTheory Virtual Office Hours where we’ll be visited by storyboarding artist Joe WIlliams (Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ Dakota, from the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate.) Joe will share some of his work with us, talk about the right time for storytellers to engage him for projects, and what it means to him to help Indigenous-focused projects come to life. Joe is also an accomplished muralist and podcaster (5 Plain Questions) currently serving as the Director of the Indigenous Programs at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota.
Register TODAY for this virtual event in order to get access to the Zoom link!
Academic Presentation at American Anthropological Association (AAA) Annual Meeting
Online – November 9 – 13, 2022
Kin Theory Office Hours
Thursday, October 20, 2022 10 – 11am PT/ 1 – 2 PM ET
Join the Kin Theory team for office hours on the third Thursday of each month at 10amPT / 1pmET. These get-togethers are for current Kin Theory members, Indigenous creators who are thinking about joining the database but have questions, or non-Indigenous folks who are interested in learning more about Kin Theory, working collaboratively and respectfully with the members of Kin Theory, and understanding the importance of Indigenous storytelling and narrative sovereignty. Feel free to join for a few minutes or the whole hour. We can’t wait to see you!
Kin Theory + IF/Then Shorts at imagineNATIVE
Wednesday, October 19, 2022, 3 PM ET
On October 18, 2022, join Kin Theory and IF/Then Shorts at imagineNATIVE for an interactive workshop entitled “Powerful Practices for Connecting with Partners and Pitching Your Project.” Strong pitching skills are essential for finding collaborators and building a sustainable film career. Join our partners Merrill Sterritt and Caitlin Mae Burke of IF/Then Shorts, alongside Jessica Ramirez of Nia Tero’s Kin Theory, and other special guests for this transparent and unapologetic session. And bring your pitches!
Kin Theory at Tallgrass Film Festival
Thursday September 29 – 30, 2022
Meet Kin Theory member and outreach advisor Loren Waters at Tallgrass Film Festival! See her film “Restoring Néške’emāne” on September 29, then join her for the Filmmaker Network Lunch on September 30 to learn more about her work and about Kin Theory.
Kin Theory & Firelight Media at IDA's Getting Real
Wednesday, September 28, 2022 10 – 2 pm PT/ 5 pm ET
Kin Theory’s Michelle Hurtubise will be moderating Firelight Media’s “#BeyondResilience: Indigenous Forms” session at IDA’s Getting Real conference on Wednesday, September 28 at 2pm PT / 5pm ET. Panelists include Julianna Brannum, filmmaker (LaDonna Harris: Indian 101);
Kin Theory at Local Sightings Film Festival
Tuesday, September 20, 2022, 7 pm PT (in person)
JKin Theory’s Jessica Ramirez will be at Local Sightings Film Festival on Tuesday, September 20 to introduce Nia Tero’s Reciprocity Project films. Join Jessica for the screening, as well as a meet-up after the screening at a local establishment that will be announced at the event. Bring your #KinTheory questions!
Kin Theory Office Hours
Thursday, September 15, 2022, 10 – 11am PT/ 1 – 2 PM ET
Join the Kin Theory team for virtual office hours on the third Thursday of each month at 10amPT / 1pmET. These get-togethers are for current Kin Theory members, Indigenous creators who are thinking about joining the database but have questions, or non-Indigenous folks who are interested in learning more about Kin Theory, working collaboratively and respectfully with the members of Kin Theory, and understanding the importance of Indigenous storytelling and narrative sovereignty. Feel free to join for a few minutes or the whole hour. We can’t wait to see you!
Kin Theory Office Hours
Thursday, August 18, 2022, 10 – 11am PT/ 1 – 2 PM ET
Join the Kin Theory team for virtual office hours on the third Thursday of each month at 10amPT / 1pmET. These get-togethers are for current Kin Theory members, Indigenous creators who are thinking about joining the database but have questions, or non-Indigenous folks who are interested in learning more about Kin Theory, working collaboratively and respectfully with the members of Kin Theory, and understanding the importance of Indigenous storytelling and narrative sovereignty. Feel free to join for a few minutes or the whole hour. We can’t wait to see you!
Kin Theory Meet-up in Philadelphia, PA
Tuesday, August 2, 2022 4 – 6pm ET
Kin Theory Office Hours
Thursday, July 21, 2022, 10 – 11am PT
Link to Sign up: here
Hollywood Climate Summit Meet-up
NEW TIME! Thursday, June 23, 2022, 3 – 4pm PT
Kin Theory Office Hours
Thursday, June 16, 2022, 10 – 11am PT
Academic Presentation at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland
Monday, June 6, 2022
Academic Presentation at 2022 ICA Pre-Conference
Thursday, May 26, 2022
Academic Presentation at FSAC/ACÉC Film Studies Association of Canada
Thursday, May 12, 2022
Academic Presentation, “The Power of Storytelling, Kin Theory and Today’s Indigenous Media Makers”
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Academic Presentation at the 2022 SCMS Annual Conference
Sunday, April 3, 2022
Academic Presentation at SSMF: "4th World Filmmakers 'Doing the Damn Thing'
Saturday, March 26, 2022
Kin Theory: Creating Impact Through Solidarity
WEDNESDAY – FEB. 23 11:00am MST
Academic Presentation at FSAC/ACÉC 2022 Graduate Colloquium
Friday, February 18, 2022
Kin Theory strategist Michelle Hurtubise will be presenting her paper
“Co-liberation joy, potential futures for solidarity and sovereignty in BIPOC filmmaking” at the 24th Annual Film Studies Association of Canada Graduate Colloquium, co-hosted by the University of Toronto and York University. This paper is based on the vibrant conversation held during a virtual Kin Theory event at Seattle International Film Festival in 2021, moderated by Tracy Rector. This will be a virtual event.
Kin Theory: Indigenous Media Connections Across Pasifika and Beyond
Friday, November 19, 2021, 12pm HT / 2pm PT / 5pm ET
In this virtual panel, enjoy stories from Indigenous creatives from Pasifika and beyond about how they center their cultural upbringing to create community-specific and place-based media, as well as the movement to grow, strengthen, and support new and existing media connections across the global Indigenous community.
Panelists will include multi-disciplinary artist and researcher Dakota Alcantara-Camacho (Matao / Chamorro / Ilokano), filmmaker and poet Chad Charlie (Ahousaht First Nation / Black), filmmaker Erin Lau (Kanaka Maoli), speaker and coach Alyssa London (Tlingit), and journalist Thomas Mangloña II (Chamorro). Moderated by Tracy Rector (Choctaw/Jewish/Black), Managing Director, Storytelling, Nia Tero.
ATTEND: This event is FREE to attend and will be presented LIVE via the HIFF Facebook Page and the HIFF YouTube Channel. If you’d like to receive a direct link for this event, click here.
Kin Theory: Academic Conference Presentation: Co-liberation Joy: How BIPOC Film Festivals and Sovereign Media Making Help Us Get There
Friday, November 19, 2021 2pm EST
Kin Theory Strategist Michelle Hurtubise will be presenting her paper, based on 2021 Kin Theory panel discussions, at the 2021 American Anthology Association’s Annual Meeting, which takes place November 17 to November 21 in Baltimore, MD. Hurtubise weaves interdisciplinary theories of Paulo Friere, Augusto Boal, and Clemencia Rodriguez that use media and civic literacy to lift oppression through education, the arts, and citizen’s media with the decolonization and Indigenization work of Sonya Atalay, Glen Coulthard, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson to frame Kin Theory’s 2021 film festival panel discussions to find pathways towards co-liberation joy.
The presentation is open to the public; registration to the American Anthology Association’s Annual Meeting required: Register here!
Third Thursday Discussion: Collaboration
November 11, 2021, 12pm ET
During the Center for Experimental Ethnography’s Third Thursday convening in November, Sosena Solomon and Peter Decherney, directors of DREAMING OF JERUSALEM (a film about the Jewish community in Gondar), will talk with Kin Theory strategist and PhD candidate Michelle Y. Hurtubise about different forms of collaboration.
Learn more and register here.
Kin Theory: Why Indigenous Representation Matters
November 9, 2021, 6 – 7:30pm ET
Join this robust, virtual screening and conversation about the importance of narrative sovereignty, where Indigenous creators (re)take control of their stories in a rapidly shifting industry landscape. Indigenous media makers are making important interventions at all levels of production in order to bring authenticity and respect to screens big and small. Watch stories and get advice from Brit Hensel (Reservation Dogs, Osiyo TV, Reciprocity Project) and Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Molly of Denali, Reciprocity Project), and more. Those who register for this event in advance will receive access to a private screening link to work by the panelists. Filmmaker and Nia Tero Managing Director of Storytelling Tracy Rector will moderate. This event is a collaboration between Florida State University’s Department of Art History in the College of the Fine Arts and Nia Tero’s Kin Theory Indigenous media makers database.
imagineNATIVE Industry Days: Building Community and Abundance Across Indigenous Creative Networks
Thursday, October 22nd, 2021, 3 – 4:30pm ET
Alongside skyrocketing demand for Indigenous made media must be strong support networks, increased visibility, and safe industry connections. It’s essential that Indigenous artists have access to networks and resources that support their artistic journeys. In this virtual panel, hear from those who have created (and are creating) Indigenous media online communities and how they are uplifting Indigenous storytellers, why collaboration and care are prioritized, and where their networks (and others) are intersecting to create a wider web of support for Indigenous creatives. Contributing to this conversation are: Amalia Cordova (Latinx), Supervisory Curator, World Cultures, at Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage; Jennifer Loren (Cherokee), Director of the Cherokee Film Office; Jennifer Podemski (Anishinaabe/Ashkenazi), Founder and CEO of Shine Network; and Tracy Rector, Nia Tero Managing Director of Storytelling and Executive Producer of Kin Theory. Tracy Rector will also moderate this discussion.
KIN THEORY: New Work in Indigenous Media (Virtual Screening)
Friday, September 24th, 4 – 6pm ET
Join us for a virtual screening and discussion of work by three 4th World Indigenous Media Lab fellows: Ivy MacDonald (she/her; Blackfeet), Alex Sallee (she/her; Iñupiaq and Mexican), and Raven Two Feathers (he/they, Two-Spirit; Cherokee, Seneca, Cayuga, and Comanche.) This conversation will be moderated by Tracy Rector(Black, Choctaw, Jewish), Managing Director of Storytelling, Nia Tero.
Register at: https://nyu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_m4mxbrUARpWqwxfFop9kSA
Academic Conference Presentation: The Business of Film (Virtual Event)
July 30, 2021, 11 – 12:30 pm EST
Kin Theory strategist Michelle Hurtubise will be presenting her paper, Indigenous media industry futures, Kin Theory database discussions at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, at the 75th annual University Film and Video Association (UFVA) Conference. UFVA is an international organization where media production and writing meet history, theory and criticism.
- Tickets: All sessions will be live-streamed and available for UFVA members who have registered for the conference. Learn more at: http://ufva.org/2021-ufva-conference/
Media Industries as Sites of Struggle
Friday, June 25, 2021
Academic Conference Presentation: Union for Democratic Communications Conference Panel
Kin Theory strategist MIchelle Hurtubise will be presenting her paper, Indigenizing with Kin Theory, Making New Tables in Media Industries, at the 40th annual Union for Democratic Communications (UDC) Conference. Since 1981, UDC has been a place for scholars in the political economy of communications to level theoretically sharp inquiry into the relationship between media, quality of life, democracy, and equality. This year’s focus is on the politics of “masking” and “unmasking” in relation to our broader political, economic, and media.
- Tickets: This is a free, virtual event. Those interested in attending can reach out to the Kin Theory team to request access: mediacommunity@niatero.org
Landfall Documentary Discussion Series
Thursday, April 22, 2021
Decolonial Case Study: Puerto Rico, Palestine and Hawai’i
On Thursday, April 22, Nia Tero’s Kin Theory will join the team behind the documentary Landfall and more for a panel discussion: “Decolonial Case Study: Puerto Rico, Palestine & Hawai’i.” Kin Theory strategist Michelle Hurtubise will join Lorraine Liriano (A Call to Action on Puerto Rico), Sumaya Awad (The Adalah Justice Project), Dr. Craig Santos Perez (University of Hawai’i at Mānoa), and Dr. Sara Awartani (Harvard University.) This is part of a 7-event series. Register for this (or every) event to receive a FREE sneak preview link to view the film.
Register: https://www.landfallfilm.com/series
Screening Scholarship Media Festival
April 18th, 10 am EDT
This panel features media and art research projects that propose interventions to destabilize the settler colonial archive. Participants on this panel will talk about issues that address the consolidation of indigenous-centered databases for filmmakers in Canada, the amplification of untold stories from African American elders who fostered the Great Migration, and the critical intervention of personal narratives of Yellow Spring’s villagers in Ohio.
Seattle International Film Festival
April 10th, 12pm PST
Indigenizing Film Industry Spaces
Tracy Rector moderates a frank and iterative discussion with two of the Sundance Indigenous Program leaders around the work of the Sundance Institute and how to expand kin relationships to the film industry. Indigenous creatives are on the rise, and SIFF and Sundance have been industry leaders in carving out space for them for almost two decades. Now the rest of the industry just needs to catch up, with BIPOC creatives and communities at the table. In this conversation, Managing Director of Nia Tero and multicultural industry leader Tracy Rector (she/her) will moderate a frank and iterative discussion with two of the Sundance Indigenous Program leaders: Japanese/Portuguese/Samoan creative Ianeta Le’i (she/her) and Kiowa/Mohawk filmmaker Adam Piron (he/him). Topics will include the work of the Sundance Institute and how to expand kin relationships to the film industry. What will the future of solidarity connections look like for safe, radically supportive, and innovative Indigenous filmmaking? As with all Kin Theory events, this one will be unapologetically rooted in community, solidarity, and reciprocity. Join us as we indigenize the film industry.
Zoom details will be emailed to ticket registrants shortly before the scheduled event.
Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) Annual Conference
March 20th, 9am EST
Space, Place, and Race Panel N21
Chair: Michelle Hurtubise, Temple University
- Jasper Lauderdale, New York University, “Time-traveling while black: Chronotopic narratives of radical alterity”
- Julia Peres Guimaraes, Northwestern University, “Queer Temporality, Race as Technology and the Dystopian Archive in Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer”
- Michelle Hurtubise, Temple University, “SGaawaay K‘uuna: Edge of the Knife, Capacity Building and Indigenous Language Revitalization through Film”
- Meghan Tibbits-Lamirande, Carleton University, “Working for No Money: Aid Slavery and Debt-Peonage in Renzo Martens’s Enjoy Poverty: Episode III”
Our strategist Michelle Hurtubise will be discussing our team and ongoing database development while reporting on the Big Sky DocShop: Kin Theory panel at several online academic conferences. Bring your questions, join in the conversation, and reach out to us at mediacommunity@niatero.org with access questions!
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
February 22nd, 2021
Kin Theory: Creating Community with Indigenous and BIPOC Filmmakers Across the Industry
The uniqueness of 2020, which included a global pandemic, distinct but overlapping human rights movements, and heart-filling cross-community mutual aid efforts, has deepened conversations about systemic inequities, including in the film industry. The need for capacity building, education and mentorship, resourcing, and distribution of work by Black, Indigenous, Latinx, undocumented, female, trans and nonbinary people, people with disabilities, and otherwise underrepresented artists has never been more prevalent. A session of deep and honest conversation about who’s doing the work to support Indigenous and Black filmmakers, as well as other creators of color, what’s still needed, and how we can work together to get there.
Panelists include partners from Working Films, Firelight Media, COUSIN Collective, imagineNATIVE, and the University of Arkansas. The Panel will be moderated by Nia Tero’s Managing Director of Storytelling, Tracy Rector.