Genre
Synopsis
To an AKÍČITA, fighting isn’t about aggression, dominance, or other tropes of toxic masculinity— fighting is ceremony. Nico, who was raised in group homes and experienced homelessness, found refuge in Muay Thai when he started competing at 15. In 2023, Anthony was playing college football in California, and came home on break longing for a healthier path forward. In Inípi (sweat lodge), he heard Nico’s stories about fighting; inspired, he moved home and asked Nico to be his coach. Now, facing his first bout is like an initiation into manhood, a critical step in reclaiming his Lakota spirituality, ceremony, dance, language, songs— and the restoration of an honorable “Warrior Society” to protect it all. Their approach offers a stark contrast to the predominantly white, athletically elite culture of the Front Range, challenging its individualistic, accomplishment-orientated behavior to model a more balanced way forward.
Bio
Dewi (day-wee) is an Indigenous film director and editor based in Louisville, Colorado, on the traditional territory of 48 contemporary tribal nations including the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute, and current home to members of approximately 100 tribal nations. She was born to a young Indonesian birthmother and descends from Ngaju Dayak, Banjarese, Sundanese, and English ancestors. She was adopted as an infant by white American parents who renamed her “Amy” (a name she has since rescinded) and raised her in white suburbia, with multiple journeys back to Southeast Asia for her adoptive father's work. She and her life+creative partner, Jason Houston, created their production company eight16 creative with the goal to center Indigenous voices, challenge dominant settler storytelling and colonial worldviews, and create art that inspires viewers to heal their relationships with the land and each other. They are currently in production on an art-forward body of work that explores Indigeneity lost, then reclaimed, as Dewi and others break from their white supremacy culture and seek ancestral knowledge in an urgent call to address climate and social justice crises facing humanity. Dewi is a member of A-Doc, ADE, BIPOC Editors, BGDM, Cine Fe, Creative Nations, Kin Theory, and Mountain Media Arts Collective, and has collaborated with a wide range of partners, including ProPublica and Exposure Labs.
