Rena Flying Coyote Collective

Four Pillars

Our work is driven by an understanding that an audience needs to engage with an issue personally and meaningfully to care about it. This work is built on the 4 pillars of RFCC: Making films that serve as a Call-To-Action for social change; Leading film screenings and discussions that serve as venues for coalition building; Creating educational curriculum to reach audiences at their most impressionable; and Conducting workshops to teach communities how to document their own stories. This model is innovative because we are at the forefront of blending storytelling, education, coalition building, and inclusiveness. This is a departure from most organizations which silo themselves into just one of those areas of practice.

  • 1st Pillar

    RFCC's cinematic model delivers critical information in an entertaining and easily digestible medium. For example, while ITI deals with very serious subject matter, especially in its handling of the public health crisis surrounding Native Mascoting (the film explores the fact that exposure to Native mascots leads to heightened levels of suicidal ideation amongst Native peoples, particularly Native youth), it also finds humor, through Native artists such as Charlie Hill, and celebrates triumph, through Native athletes such as Billy Mills.

  • 2nd Pillar

    RFCC’s community building model is designed to help the audience further connect with the material through a relational understanding of Native issues via a blend of lived experiences and expertise, offered by panelists and audience member participation. This is where the work really gets done. They are a venue for direct feedback from affected populations, and an opportunity to coalition build with those populations and their allies. 

  • 3rd Pillar

    RFCC’s broader learning model relies on innovative and engaging educational curricula rooted in pedagogical best practices, driven by Indigenous Knowledge, and supported by educational expertise for learning across the lifespan. We want to reach our audience at their most impressionable, in their youth. Our educational curricula use a blend of multimedia assets and traditional lesson plans to, as cliche as it may sound, make learning fun.

  • 4th Pillar

    RFCC’s teaching model includes producer’s workshops rooted in making the process of filmmaking accessible to anyone with an interest in storytelling. Our workshops are driven by Indigenous Knowledge and storytelling. We know that if we are going to seriously combat Native Invisibility, the number of Native storytellers has to expand. We are taking our knowledge of storytelling through film to empower Native communities.