A hide is draping in front of Kathleen, an older Native auntie. She caresses it on the backside as she uses a scraping tool on the front, putting pressure on both sides to soften it and dry it of brain solution. Her focused face is on focus, with green birch out of focus in the background.

Deneege Leł Ghu Kk’ots’eedeneeyh Te Heł Hoozoonh Ts’e Denots’edeneeyh

Brittany Woods-Orrison 2025 0:05:00 Min Denaakk’e English Open Captions United States

Narrated in Denaakk’e, the film follows a group of Dené women reviving the near lost practice of brain-tanning hides, a centuries-old tradition tied to the health of the land and community.

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Synopsis

The tradition of tanning hides with brains was once practiced by every Dené person in Alaska. An art that was nearly lost by assimilation, Kathleen Hildebrand works with a group of Dené women at her urban backyard hide camp in the heart of Chen’o (Fairbanks) to revive this tradition. One of the few films out there narrated in Denaakk’e, we learn alongside the women how the hides have healing.

Screenings

ENCORE: Land and Resistance

Watch anytime between September 11-21. Three films. Three places where tradition lives in the body and the voice. Dené women reviving centuries-old hide-tanning practices. An Afro-Colombian trans leader…

Friday, September 11, 2026
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Online Encore ENCORE: Land and Resistance

IndigiQueer Stewards

Hands working hide, bringing knowledge back to life. Voices and language refusing to disappear. Two films grounded in land, language, and continuance where what was nearly lost is…

Date to be announced
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Satellite Screening IndigiQueer Stewards

Land and Resistance

FEATURED SCREENING: Three films. Three places where tradition lives in the body and the voice.

Saturday, June 13, 4:00 PM - 6:15 PM
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In-person Land and Resistance

Content Warnings

No content warnings provided

Specific Themes

Community Environmental justice Families First Nations / Aboriginal Indigenous Nature Traditional cultures

Credits

Director
Brittany Woods-Orrison
Screenwriter
Brittany Woods-Orrison
Producer
Sadetło Scott, Brittany Woods-Orrison
Co Producer
Stina Thomas Hamlin
Cast
Kathleen Hildebrand, Hʉkk’aaghneestaatlno Lorraine David
Editor
Brittany Woods-Orrison
Composer
Matt Gundy

About Filmmaker(s)

Brittany Woods-Orrison is a filmmaker from Dleł Taneets, a small village along the Yukon River. Brittany’s film journey started with the Native Movement’s Alaska Native Filmmakers Intensive in 2021 where each student made their own film, she made her first informal film “The Land and I Heal One Another”. This cohort met again for the Film Makers Intensive in 2024 where they worked on a full set to make a film about the Inupiaq dance groups in Sitnasuak. Brittany has been on various film crews, including her mentor Princess Johnson film’s “Tribally-Owned Broadband” and “This is a Story About Salmon”. Other media endeavors include working as a host for Native Movement’s Podcast “Half Smoke”.

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