SISTERS RISING

Sisters Rising is a powerful, award-winning feature documentary about six Native American women reclaiming personal & tribal sovereignty in the face of ongoing sexual and colonial violence.

Native American women are 2.5 times more likely to experience sexual assault than all other American women. 1 in 3 Native women report having been raped during her lifetime and 86% of the offenses are committed by non-Native men. These perpetrators exploit gaps in tribal jurisdictional authority and target Native women as ‘safe victims’. SISTERS RISING follows six women who refuse to let this pattern of violence continue in the shadows: a tribal cop in the midst of the North Dakota oil boom, an attorney fighting to overturn restrictions on tribal sovereignty, an Indigenous women’s self-defense instructor, grassroots advocates working to influence legislative change, and the author of the first anti-sex trafficking code to be introduced to a reservation’s tribal court. Their stories shine an unflinching light on righting injustice on both an individual and systemic level.

SISTERS RISING is an urgent call to action, a gorgeous portrait of powerful women acting in solidarity, and a demand for tribal sovereignty and self-determination as the necessary step towards ending violence against Native women.

Sisters Rising is now available
Schools and institutions may purchase it through our fiscal sponsor, Women Make Movies

Buy Now

Credits

Directed & Produced by Willow O’Feral and Brad Heck (Haptic Pictures)
Co-produced by Jaida Grey Eagle (Oglala Lakota)
Executive Producer: Tantoo Cardinal (Cree/Métis)
Original Music by Allison Leialoha Milham
Featuring: Dawn White, Loreline LaCroix, Lisa Brunner, Sarah Deer, Patty Stonefish, Chalsey Snyder
Editor Jenn Ruff
Assistant Editor Razelle Benally (Oglala Lakota/Diné)
Trailer Editor Shirley Thompson
Colorist Anastasia Shepherd
Post-Production Sound Mixer Ben Rogers
Poster Artist Wakeah Jhane (Comanche/Blackfeet/Kiowa)
Funding provided in part by Vision Maker Media

Trailer

REVIEWS

“In a portrait of six brave participants who refuse to let a pattern of violence against native women continue on in the shadows, this film shines an unflinching and ultimately uplifting light onto righting injustice on both an individual and systemic level.”
— Big Sky Jury Statement

“Directors o’feral and heck never lose sight of the fact that these women are not just statistics but people who deserve dignity and respect. They weave their six subjects’ experience and expertise into an effective narrative with a beautiful eye for style. ”
— Ashley Sosa, video librarian

“This is a conversation that needs to happen now and i believe sisters rising is a powerful contributing voice.”
— Sarah Deer,
Muscogee Creek Lawyer, Advocate and Professor

FILMMAKERS

SCREENINGS

Spokane Int’l Film Festival (SpIFF)

February 4, 2022 – February 14, 2022

WYO Film Festival

Oct 1-3 2021

Myrna Loy Theater – Helena, Montana

Sept 29, 2021

Out of Africa Int’l Film Festival

September 15-17, 2021

Windham World Affairs Council

July 8, 2021

Women’s Museum of California

June 17, 2021

Dove House/Rose Theatre

May 24-31, 2021

Hennepin County Library, Minnesota

May 29, 2021

BROADCAST PREMIERE America ReFramed on PBS

April 20, 2021 – Ongoing

SAFE Austin

April 22, 2021

Kansas University – FNSA Powwow & Indigenous Cultures Festival

April 8, 2021

Birrarangga Film Festival -AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE

March 13, 2021

Herat International Womens Film Festival – AFGHANISTAN PREMIERE

November 16, 2020

Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival

VIRTUAL FESTIVAL – Dec 27 to Jan 1

LA SKINS Fest

November 17-22, 2020

Smithsonian NMAI Native Cinema Showcase virtual

November 18-27, 2020

Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival

November 20-22, 2020

North Dakota Human Rights Film Festival

November 8-15, 2020

American Indian Film Festival

November 4-14, 2020

UNL Human Trafficking & Migration Initiative

October 20-23, 2020

Boston Women’s Film Festival

October 8-18th, 2020

Vision Maker Media Indigenous Online Film Festival

August 31, 2020 – October 5, 2020

Native Spirit Film Festival

October, 2020

Minority Health Film Festival

September 10-24, 2020

Elizabethtown Film Festival

September 18 – September 20

Women’s Film Festival

CANCELED – September, 2020

Family of Woman Film Festival

September, 2020

Nevada City Film Festival

August 28 – September 4, 2020

Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival

August 27 – September 3, 2020

The Americas Film Festival of New York (TAFFNY)

VIRTUAL FILM FESTIVAL, Presented by the Smithsonian NMAI — June 28, 2020

Arctic University of Norway

VIRTUAL SCREENING — June 15, 2020

Vermont Network Against Sexual & Domestic Violence

VIRTUAL SCREENING — May 19, 2020

MN 350: Building a Climate Movement in Minnesota

VIRTUAL SCREENING — May 9, 2020

Women Make Movies, Films Interrupted

VIRTUAL FESTIVAL — April 17-19, 2020

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

Feb 20th, 2020

California’s American Indian & Indigenous Film Festiva