Michelle Y. Hurtubise


Michelle Y. Hurtubise is a Visual Anthropology Ph.D. candidate at Temple University and Nia Tero strategist researching narrative sovereignty and BIPOC creator support systems through the development of Kin Theory, a global Indigenous media makers database, the 4th World Media Lab, and the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

Indigenous stories as medicine, 4th World filmmakers ‘doing the damn thing’

Indigenous storytelling is vital to a deeper understanding of our world and in addressing the climate crisis, but how do we best support these storytellers? The 4th World Media Lab does this by supporting early and mid-career Indigenous filmmakers from around the globe. In this Seedcast podcast episode, current fellows share how Indigenous-focused spaces make room for growth, why BIPOC filmmaking is in a critical moment, and what they envision next. The founder of the lab, Tracy Rector of Nia Tero also shares about the generative partnerships that keep the 4th World fellowship going and what inspired the name.


Image courtesy of 4th World Media Lab. The 2021 fellows pictured left to right include: Ajuawak Kapashesit, Lucía Ortega Toledo, Jared Lank, Erin Lau, Brit Hensel, and Theola Ross.

Listen to the episode here: