Capturing Indigenous Community through Film: Carla Ulrich

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When filmmaker Carla Ulrich talks about her work, the word that emerges over and over again is “community.” A director, writer, and producer based out of Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories of Canada, Ulrich has over ten years of experience making independent films which tell indigenous stories. In her conversation with Dr. Kairn Klieman recorded on December 11, 2020, Ulrich explains that filmmaking serves both to protect and promote her community. Documentary and dramatic films authentically preserve tribal life and culture, thus challenging stereotypes too prevalent in movies. For example, her most recent work, Three Feathers (2019), examines the power of restorative justice for three young men, who learn to love the land and each other through the patient teaching of their Elders . Ulrich also talks about how the process of filmmaking creates community, as each member of the team relies on one another in a collaborative experience familiar to many public historians. Finally, Ulrich endeavors to enable the next generation through her YouthRise Project, workshops that teach filmmaking to young people so that they can record their own creative ideas and capture the legacy of their community.
Check out Carla Ulrich's films:
Three Feathers (2018) - https://www.threefeathersthemovie.com/
Hickey Gone Wrong (2015) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5059704/
Stolen Sisters (2008) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2956038/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Learn more about Carla Ulrich and her film company, Dayah Films at www.dayahfilms.com.
On the YouthRise Project, see www.youthriseproject.com.

The Center for Public History at the University of Houston. https://uh.edu/class/cph