Every once in a while, a story returns something we didn’t know we’d lost…
Photo by: Louise Johns
For thousands of years, buffalo shaped the living fabric of this continent.
Their movements nourished grasslands, sustained countless species, and gave rise to cultures whose understanding of the world grew from living as part of a larger community of life.
Whether our ancestors walked beside buffalo or arrived generations later, we have all inherited the continent they helped shape, and the world their absence left behind.
This is a story of return.
In June 2023, After decades of work by the Blackfeet Buffalo Program and its partners,
49 buffalo returned to Blackfeet homelands near Nínaiistáko (chief Mountain).
Free-roaming buffalo walked the last intact grasslands in North America once again.
The film
IINNIIWA follows the Blackfeet Nation, the land, and the buffalo as they reunite after nearly 150 years apart.
The film documents the return of free-roaming buffalo to Blackfeet homelands and
the Indigenous leadership guiding that return.
Directed by Hunter Robert Baker and Elias Gallegos | Executive Producer Chris Eyre | Featuring Grammy Award-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma
Premiered at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, October 19, 2025 | Runtime 19:50.
Enter the Story…
Voices
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Marvin Weatherwax Sr.
Blackfeet Elder and Knowledge Keeper
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Ervin Carlson
Director, Blackfeet Buffalo Program
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Chazz Racine
Foreman, Blackfeet Buffalo Program
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Arlan K. Edwards
Singer and Songwriter
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Cristina Mormorunni
Co-Founder and Executive Director, INDIGENOUS LED
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Yo-Yo Ma
Grammy Award Winning Cellist
The most powerful stories do not simply change what we know.
They change what we are able to see.
More than a film
IINNIIWA is more than a documentary. It is an invitation to remember a way of seeing the world that has always been there. It begins with buffalo and Blackfeet, but ultimately expands our imagination of what becomes possible when we remember that we belong to the living world.
IINNIIWA does not end when the credits roll. It opens into a broader movement grounded in the belief that stories can restore our capacity to imagine a different future. Through screenings, conversations, immersive experiences, and community, the film creates spaces where people can reconnect with one another, with place, and with the possibilities that emerge when we remember.
What comes next is the seeding of a movement…
When buffalo return,
The land does not simply receive them.
It answers.
Hoof to soil
Grass to wind
Water to roots
Wind to sky
Relationships long interrupted
Begin moving again.
Not backward,
Not towards what was,
Toward what may still be possible.
Join the Story
The buffalo are returning. Help shape what comes next.
Whether you host a screening, become a partner, support the work, or simply carry the story forward,
you become part of something larger than a film.
Host a screening
Bring IINNIIWA to your community, school, museum, or festival.
Partner with us
Buffalo return through many hands.
There is room in this work for yours.
Support the Work
Restoration takes generations.
Support helps carry this work into the next one.
Carry the story
The story is still being told.
Stay with us as it unfolds.
Partners
Some stories don't ask us
to believe in something new.
They ask us to remember.
Credits
Directors: Hunter Robert Baker, Elias Gallegos
Producers: Matt Ackerman, Hunter Robert Baker, Elias Gallegos, Cristina Mormorunni
Co-Producers: Brett Banks, Laura Ball
Executive Producer: Chris Eyre
Cinematographer: Hunter Robert Baker
Editors: Brett Banks, Stephan Wever, Laurie Hedges
Music: Kevin Kiner, Sean Kiner, Deana Kiner