Browse Movies : Indican Pictures : Documentary

Thirty miles from Manhattan a group of mysterious mountain people fight for recognition as a legitimate Native American tribe from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. What begins as their journey travels the country as Native American’s fight for their rights at Standing Rock, Apache Junction and throughout the United States. Examining through expert interviews and unbridled access to the ­community, the film provides an in ­depth look at the complex past, volatile present and endangered future of the Ramapough Mountain Indians and what it truly means to be a “Native American”.

In this world of wonders there are still places that have not been smoothed over with the shallow surfaces of Western commercialism. This film is a personal Valentine to a life filled with amazing, exotic, beautiful and fearsome places for the world. The amazing thing is not just the visual demonstration of how fleeting life is, but a meditation on how the decisions that seem momentous on our time scale are flickering snapshots of life on this planet, too small to be observed by most. Somehow the music combined with technology becomes a personal experience that makes the earth and its inhabitants seem touchingly fragile and full of wonder.

Gridiron Heroes is the story of high school football star Chris Canales, who was paralyzed in a championship football game. The film chronicles the work of the Gridiron Heroes Spinal Cord Injury Foundation started by Chris and his father Eddie. Gridiron Heroes is also an examination of the game of football itself. Some of the most famous faces in the game discuss the larger problem of brain damage and spinal cord injuries that occur on the football field and a solution, “Heads up Tackling,” is presented.

Filmmaker Liz Rogers and director Kevin Flint go to South Dakota following a story on Uranium contamination only to discover that the problem flows much farther than they imagined. Our nuclear legacy began with Uranium. From ‘Fat Man’ and ‘Little Boy’ to ‘Duck and Cover’ we believed it was safe to eat, drink and breathe in the shadow of the Atomic Bomb. The subsequent health and environmental damage will take generations, and in some cases thousands of years to heal. Our ground water, wells, drinking water, air and soil are contaminated with some of the most toxic heavy metals known to man – and yet we still have no firm plan in place for the storage of tons of nuclear materials we produce every year.

A best-selling author for 30 years, Carlos Castaneda inspired millions to break free from social dogma, fueling controversy over his work's authenticity and assertions of perceiving non-ordinary reality, during an apprenticeship with Yaqui sorcerer, don Juan Matus. Genius, guru, cult leader or fraud? No one really knows. Over three years in the making, this documentary explores Castaneda's mythic impact, controversial teachings and cult following. Candid interviews backed with animation and experimental footage offer an intense visual and intellectual experience.

In the 1980s a bunch of underground cartoonists parodied a popular doll (whose name can’t be spoken). The resulting commercial trading cards/stickers tapped into an international zeitgeist that was brewing in a young generation who felt that this product spoke to the revulsion they had for the corporate pop culture that was being fed to them. Learn the truth behind the myth of The Garbage Pail Kids.

It’s tragic that in the world’s wealthiest country, 4.2 million teenagers are homeless. Former Navy veteran and homeless youth, director Rotimi Rainwater shows viewers the realities of life on the streets as he travels the country to shine a light on the epidemic of youth homelessness in America. With the help of celebrities and politicians who have been homeless themselves or advocates of the repressed, this film takes a large scale issue down to a very personal level.