The Centerpiece of NYICFF 2026: Native Stories plays Saturday

The centerpiece presentation at this year's NYICFF is a collection of films highlighting indigenious populations before and behind the camera.

FREDDY
A little figure makes a break for freedom when a kid leaves the room.
This is a wickedly delightful film that contains one of the biggest belly laughs I've had in a long time (its a beyond prefect double take). This film is absolutely great.

POW
A young kid just wants to play his video game but the battery is dying and there is nowhere to charge it at the tribal powwow.
Perfectly nailing the feeling you get when you have to go somewhere and don't want to, POW is a film that is by turns knowing, funny and then unexpectedly moving. It also has a wickedly funny reoccuring fry joke.

AKABABRU: EXPRESSION OF ASTONISHMENT
A young girl is afraid to laugh, until she meets a woman who tells her about a woman who was punished for laughing at her husband and found the power of laughter.  This is a solid little film about the power of laughter to turn the tables on bad situations

FINDING LIGHT IN THE DARK: A coming of Age Story
A 16 year old girl ponders being on the edge of adulthood, knowing she will no longer be a child.
A moving moment of reflection

TULE
A girl reflects on Clear Lake in Northern California and how it's pollution has altered how she and her tribe look at the world

NI WAPITEN
A boy and friends clean up the land they were raised on and reflect on what the land means to them

EVENING ESCAPADES
An animated tale of the nocturnal craziness of a bunch of rabbits.
This is a lot of fun

Tentsítewahkwe (We Pick It Up Again) 
A woman talks about reconnecting with her tribal past by teaching courses of the skills used by her ancestors.
This is a great film about the need to connect with our past. While the courses cam about when covid changed the world and made people fear needing to fend for themselves, the courses had the added bonus of reconnecting people to the past and each other.
Wonderful

Legend of Fry-Roti: Rise of the Dough

A Navajo/Bengali young woman is unexpectedly forced to deal with her aunties, one from each side of her family, in order to help her cook.
The joy and pain of having relatives who think they know best plays out in a kitchen. Its something almost all of us can relate to, even it its not so much cultural clashy.

CLEANING IS A CAKEWALK
Young Albert is pressed into service cleaning the chapter house.
This is a funny tale about charming kid who gets railroaded into doing hard work. The film works because Kellyn Morris as Albert is so good. He holds the center of the film and our attention. He's got enough charm to become a big star.