FESTIVAL PREMIERE
Their Warming Heart
Director: Nanieezh Peter
My uncle passed away and this film is how I decided to explore grief. I wish I had been able to sing for my uncle before he passed away so I created this song for him. Inspired by a dream I had, my short film cuts between a falltime scene of a boy and myself, and a thawing caribou heart. Written and sung in Dinjii Zhuh K’yaa, the Gwich’in language, it is the first music video of its kind.
“Our Indigenous languages are alive and just like us, they are adapting to this mainstream culture. As a film student I don’t see enough Indigenous language representation in the media. Dinjii Zhuh K’yaa is so poetic and beautiful that I figured it was time to highlight that. I want to encourage language learning, and show our Elders that our languages belong. Through my music video I wanted to show the potential our languages can hold in modern spaces.”
CAST & CREDITS
Director
Nanieezh Peter
Writer
Nanieezh Peter
Producer
Nanieezh Peter
Key Cast
Nanieezh Peter, Samuel Evans
DIRECTORS STATEMENT
Working on this film from start to finish has been very rewarding. I feel much more confident in my ability to create in the film world.
DIRECTORS BIO
Na’ni’eezh is Neets’aii Gwich’in, T’ohono O’ohdham, Ashkenazi Jewish, and Diné. From the communities of Shonto, Arizona on the Navajo Nation and Vashrąįį K’ǫǫ in the Brook’s Range, Alaska. She is a student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, majoring in Film and double minoring in Gwich’in language and ethnobotany. She is an actor, singer, farmer, and community organizer.
