Cultural Fieldwork and Documentary Projects

This body of work is rooted in long-term cultural documentation across Indigenous and remote communities around the world. Through film and photography, these projects explore identity, tradition, and the relationship between people and the natural world.

The work is developed through immersive, on-the-ground engagement, often in collaboration with cultural leaders, elders, and local communities. Each project focuses on preserving knowledge systems, documenting lived experience, and creating visual records of cultures that are often underrepresented or at risk of being lost.

These projects span multiple countries and contexts, from the Amazon to India to North America, and reflect an ongoing commitment to ethnographic storytelling and cultural preservation through visual media.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES SUMMIT (2023–2024)

Documentary Filmmaker
Omaha, Nebraska

The Indigenous Peoples Summit is a gathering of Indigenous leaders, knowledge keepers, and community organizers focused on cultural preservation, sovereignty, and regenerative futures. Core themes include seedkeeping, rematriation, Indigenous womanhood, and food sovereignty.

I was invited to document the summit through film, capturing conversations, ceremonies, and the perspectives of leaders from diverse nations. Participants included Chief Holloway of the Omaha Nation, Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, Cynthia Ellis, Ambassador of the Garifuna Nation, and Great Grandmother Mary Lyons, among others.

The project focused on creating a short documentary that reflects both the urgency and continuity of Indigenous knowledge systems, while honoring the voices and lived experiences of those present.

The summit concluded with a historic treaty signed between the Iowa Tribe, the Omaha Nation, and the Garifuna Nation, marking a significant moment of intertribal collaboration and cultural solidarity.

ANIWA (2022–2024)

Documentary filmmaking and photography project focused on Indigenous knowledge systems and environmental storytelling

Creative Director, Cinematographer, Editor
The Boa Foundation, California

ANIWA is an international gathering of Indigenous elders, knowledge keepers, and environmental leaders focused on cultural preservation, ecological restoration, and living knowledge systems rooted in relationship with the natural world.

Since 2022, I have worked as a filmmaker and photographer within a small documentation team, capturing the teachings, ceremonies, and dialogues shared by Indigenous leaders from around the world. The work includes both visual documentation and the creation of long-form educational content based on the elders’ lectures and workshops.

Contributors include the Mamos and Zagas of the Kogi and Arhuaco communities of Colombia, Asháninka leader Benki Piyãko of Brazil, and Hopi elder Mona Polacca of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, among others.

This body of work focuses on documenting knowledge systems that are often transmitted orally and rarely recorded, including teachings on land stewardship, cultural continuity, and sustainable ways of living. The resulting films and educational materials are distributed globally, expanding access to Indigenous perspectives on ecology, community, and the future of the planet.

THE DANCE OF FREEDOM (2019–2027)

Director, Producer, Cinematographer
Culture Shakti, Los Angeles / Rajasthan

The Dance of Freedom is a feature documentary exploring the Kalbeliya dance tradition of Rajasthan, India, and the women working to preserve it across generations.

At the center of the story is Gulabo Sapera, a Padma Shri awardee and the matriarch of the Kalbeliya dance form, whose life and work helped shift the trajectory of a community once affected by female infanticide and systemic marginalization within India’s caste structure.

The film follows the cultural, social, and personal dimensions of this tradition, examining how dance functions not only as artistic expression, but as a means of survival, identity, and resistance. It also traces the collaboration between Indian and Western women working to support the continuity of the practice and expand its global visibility.

Filmed over multiple years, the project documents a culture in transition, navigating the pressures of modernity, economic hardship, and cultural erasure, while actively working to sustain its heritage.

The film is currently in production.

*About Culture Shakti: Culture Shakti is an organization dedicated to preserving Rajasthani folk traditions and supporting the artists who carry them forward. Through initiatives including land support, fundraising, and cultural exchange, the organization works to create sustainable pathways for traditional artists to continue their practice and share it with global audiences.