Native American Film Internship Program

Dr. Robert Martin, IAIA President, and Dr. Ann Filemyr, Academic Dean, recently visited CIAC and connected them with IAIA Media Arts Department Chair Carlos Peinado (Mandan-Hidatsa), as well as faculty members Shawna Begay (Navajo) and Jennifer Coots (Navajo). This led to the development of a new “Native American Film Students Internship Program.” Dean Ann Filemyr conveyed the importance of the program: “This opportunity for our students to create educational films serves our mission to empower Native arts and cultures. The films will be also be used in our classes at the College of Contemporary Native Arts at IAIA.”

The first student to receive a NAFS Internship, Carey Tully (Navajo), a senior IAIA film student, commented: “My internship has been an amazing opportunity to gain professional experience and to work with top professionals, such Jilann Spitzmiller and Hank Rogerson, two veteran participants in Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival.”  They are senior members of the production team for “Go Native Arts!”

Carey presently is completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in “New Media Arts – Moving Images.” Her internship is under the supervision of Dr. Schaaf and CIAC Assistant Director, Angie Yan Schaaf. She is specializing in high-definition filming with a Sony XDCAM, Sennheiser sound recording, and Final Cut Studio digital editing.