Barnes Cinema: Powwow People by Sky Hopinka

Today’s program features Powwow People (2025), directed by acclaimed multidisciplinary artist Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians). Exploring the textures, movement, and collective presence of the powwow, this feature-length documentary reflects on a beloved, complicated community and the continuities of Native life. A discussion with Hopinka will follow the screening, along with an audience Q&A, moderated by producer John Cardellino.

Held in the Comcast NBCUniversal Auditorium, this program is presented alongside Hopinka’s site-specific installation, Red Metal Dust, in the Annenberg Court, and includes access to the collection and Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America.

About the Film

Powwow People (2025)
Directed by Sky Hopinka

Powwow People is a vérité-style documentary grounded in the rhythms, relationships, and lived experience of a contemporary Native gathering. Rather than entering as outside observers, the filmmakers organized the powwow itself, inviting dancers, singers, vendors, and community members to participate in the making of this film. The film culminates in a 30-minute unbroken shot of a Northern Traditional dance special, drawing the viewer into the textures, movement, and collective presence of the powwow.

Duration: 129 min.