Educational Media Reviews Online

Filmmaker Tsanavi Spoonhunter makes a brilliant and engaging case for Native food sovereignty through this intimate, short documentary, exploring the practical realities of food scarcity for those living in Crow Country. Through the perspectives of Native elders and community organizers, parents and community members, we see first-hand the perfect storm created by a food desert, with no access to grocery stores nearby, limited financial resources, and non-native regulations that criminalize traditional hunting practices.

Spoonhunter expertly depicts the burden of time, energy and resources exhausted towards basic sustenance in an environment of food scarcity, including traveling over 25 miles to the closest store, as well as tracking game that crosses non-Native imposed boundaries which make hunting illegal, and the collective lift by community organizers to assemble food boxes. The film provides critical perspectives for those who have not experienced food insecurity, with unique insights into the basic day to day barriers facing not only Crow Country, but similar rural and food desert communities. As such, Crow Country: Our Right to Food Sovereignty is perfect for courses focused on Native American sovereignty, and for food security focused classes in political science, rural and urban planning, legal studies, social welfare, and poverty studies. This wonderful short film is a testament to the power of documentary film by Native filmmakers about Native sovereignty and is highly recommended for all libraries.

Awards:
Best Documentary Short, 2020 American Indian Film Festival (AIFF); Best Made in Montana Film, 2020 Montana International Film Festival (MINT); Best Student Documentary Short, 2020 Indie Short Fest (ISF-LA)

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