The California’s American Indian & Indigenous Film Festival (CAIIFF) located on tribal lands offers audiences in Southern California the finest work in American Indian film and media on an annual basis. The CAIIFF highlights the best of current films from American Indian and Indigenous filmmakers, producers, directors, and actors working throughout Indian Country.

The CAIIFF located on tribal lands in an area that is home to the largest number of Indian reservations in the region and is able to reach unprecedented numbers of tribal people and the surrounding community. The festival offers an event that promises not only exclusive viewings, but includes interactive dialogues with film industry professionals, selected panel discussions and opportunity for Q&A sessions after each screening.

AWARD CATEGORIES:

Best Documentary Short
Best Documentary Feature
Best International Feature
Best Narrative Short
Best Narrative Feature
Best California Indian Short
Best California Indian Feature
Best Youth Work
Special Jury Prize

California American Indian & Indigenous Film Festival (CAIIFF) considers film, video, and digital media works made by American Indian and Indigenous media artists (directors, producers, actors, screenwriters). In programming work for the Festival, CAIIFF strives to represent a diversity of ideas, themes and genres in its programming, seeking representations of subjects that would not necessarily be made available through the mainstream forms of media. The Festival prioritizes works that balance unique and new perspectives expressed within the content of the work, cultural and social relevance, a creative approach to form characterized by innovative expression, distinctive style, personal vision, as well as the practice of crossing aesthetic borders in terms of genre, medium and emerging content platforms.

We strongly advise that you review our Mission and Vision, in addition to reading about our Artistic, Selection and Programming Policies.. By submitting your work, you are agreeing for your work to be assessed under these policies, so we feel it's important that you're aware of and understand what these are. The links to each of these are listed below.

Mission and Vision: http://bit.ly/18CAIIFF-MV
Artistic Policy: http://bit.ly/18CAIIFF-AP
Selection Process: http://bit.ly/18CAIIFF-SP
Programming Policy: http://bit.ly/18CAIIFF-ProgramPolicy

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Super fun and beautiful location! Amazing opportunity.

    December 2018
  • Michael Genz

    Thank you for selecting Mni Wiconi: Water is Life to be a part of such an outstanding event.

    November 2018
  • An honoring festival that went way above and beyond to welcome my film and me as a filmmaker!

    November 2017
  • Great event for indigenous artists

    November 2017
  • It was really an honor to have my first independent short film be screened at this festival. This was also the first film festival I've attended outside of school and it was really inspiring.

    November 2017