global reflections - the christensen fund
Interviewing prominent Indigenous leaders from around the world, the Global Reflections film consolidates key insights about effective solidarity funding for Indigenous peoples. The Christensen fund distributes 10 million dollars per year to organizations supporting Indigenous self-determination, and this film was produced to guide best practices to advance community efforts, advance conservation, and fight the climate crisis. The b-roll footage was sourced from grantee organizations.
Client film
Hanna Wallis: Director, Director of Photography, editor, Sarah Sax: Producer
Until forever // hasta siempre
Until the Sun Burns Out is an intimate portrait of raising a daughter in the midst of war. Spanning the course of four years, young Estefanie learns her belonging to an unarmed Indigenous resistance movement in Cauca, Colombia that has stood up to the violence for generations. Her mom faces death threats as land-defender assassinations spike, but their commitment to the ancestral struggle never wavers.
Feature documentary; in production.
Hanna Wallis: Director, Director of Photography.
The footprints of azqueltán
In Azqueltán, the first Indigenous “autonomous zone” in Northern Mexico, the Wixarika and Tepehauno peoples use their spirituality to guide protection of the land. Threats to the community not only come from opponents to their territorial defense, but high rates of infant mortality. As they revive ancestral midwife practices, surviving into future becomes a matter of turning to the past. A displaced leader returns to the community for ceremony with his son, imparting the lessons of their ancestors onto the next generation as they witness the birthing of a new dream.
Short documentary; in development.
Hanna Wallis: Director. Monica Wise Robles: Director of Photography. Andrea Cruz: Editor.
Sapara
For the Sapara, an Indigenous group of only 400 people, the threat of oil drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon could bring about their cultural and physical extinction. As they revive an ancestral monkey hunt, the ceremony becomes an allegory of death and survival, strengthening their collective identity and implacable relationship with the land.
Short documentary; in post-production.
Director, Director of Photography. Producer: Sarah Sax. Editor: Daniela Quiroz.
Father of the Disappeared
Since the tragic disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa teacher’s college in Mexico, Antonio Tizapa hasn’t given up the search for his missing son. His painful quest from the other side of the border has galvanized a movement in New York — Running for Ayotzinapa — to protest state violence in Mexico. The physical challenge of competing in marathons becomes an expression of Antonio’s interminable struggle for justice and answers.
Short journalism documentary; published.
Hanna Wallis: Producer, Director, Director of photography, Editor.
Ani Xeati
In collaboration with community leaders in Peru, The Shipibo Conibo Center launched Ani Xeati, the first Indigenous film festival in the Amazon.
Trailer.
Hanna Wallis: Editor. Footage from 12 Indigenous films.
Unconditional
Shanetha Donaldson’s mission is to help kids who face the struggles she endured in her childhood. As a foster mom, she offers the love that was often missing from her past growing up in the same system.
Micro-documentary made in four days during The Mountain Workshop.
Hanna Wallis: Director, Director of Photography, Editor.
Lovebirds
The women of a legal escort business in Portland, Maine describe their relationships to sex work, balancing the performance of intimacy against their inner lives.
Student short documentary.
Hanna Wallis: director, producer, DP, editor.