Film festival shows multifaceted Indians

American Indian Film Institute festivalIn its 32 years, the American Indian Film Institute's annual festival has shown a gamut of films: splashy major motion pictures ("Dances With Wolves" in 1990), small documentaries, youth videos, narrative feature films and indie favorites from Sundance and beyond. This year, it's showing roughly 92 films from the United States and Canada.

All of this goes to fulfill the goal of showing audiences the multifaceted lives of American Indians. "We want to touch on all concerns of human being," Smith says. "We have issues just like any community. From health issues, to family issues to things like homelessness ... all of this gathered in just nine days could really show audiences that there is so much to learn from native peoples. I feel confident that they're getting a good glimpse into our world."