"Amid the parade frenzy and triggered smoke alarms ofThanksgiving Day in New York City, a new Haudenosaunee-led documentary cuts through the noise byrecentering Indigenous storytelling and resistance. (2025) follows Paiute teenager Kutoven "Ku" Stevens, whose goal to run professionally proves to be inseparable from the story of his great-grandfather, who ran away from a residential school for Indigenous children."
"Four years in the making, Mohawk/Oneida director and producer PaigeBethmann's film made its award-winning premiere at South by Southwest Film and TV Festivallast March before embarking on its international festival circuit. The documentary's team organized a week of screenings from Friday, November 21, through Thursday, November 27, at DCTV's Firehouse Cinema in Tribeca as part of the nationwide Fall of Freedom programming."
"Remaining Native is set on the Yerington Paiute Reservation in rural western Nevada, the ancestral lands where Stevens and his parents live. At 17 years old, Stevens wants only one thing: to shave seconds off his run time so he can get recruited to the University of Oregon'srenowned track and field team. Stevens, while naturally talented, is coached only by his father and ultimately left to his owndevices to stand out at races."
Remaining Native follows 17-year-old Kutoven "Ku" Stevens on the Yerington Paiute Reservation in rural western Nevada as he trains to shave seconds off his times to earn recruitment to the University of Oregon track team. The narrative ties Stevens's athletic ambition to his great-grandfather's history of running away from an Indigenous residential school, linking present performance to intergenerational trauma and identity. Stevens receives informal coaching from his father and must navigate races largely on his own. The film was produced by a Haudenosaunee-led team, premiered at South by Southwest, and screened in Tribeca as part of Fall of Freedom programming.
Read at Hyperallergic
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