Awards: NEXT Audience Award, Sundance Film Festival, 2026

Most people think of museums as positive institutions built around displaying art and history to the public, but the way in which an entire culture can be displayed for entertainment can cause tension between museums and the group whose culture is on display. Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild] dives into that tension, focusing on the relationship between Native American tribes and museums over how artifacts and human remains are displayed or kept in archives at museums. While this issue takes place all over the US and the world, this film focuses on specific examples in Michigan to give a more in-depth perspective on a large scale issue. (Written by Eli Greenwald, ’26)