FILMMAKER

BRIT HENSEL

Brit Hensel is an Oklahoma based writer and award-winning filmmaker whose work focuses on Indigenous storytelling and environmental justice. A citizen of Cherokee Nation, she was recently awarded the 4th World Indigenous Media Fellowship and is a 2022 Tulsa Artist Fellow. Previously, Brit directed the documentary films, Zibi Yajdan (2019), which tells the story of the Kalamazoo River and its relationship to the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Pottawatomi people (Gun Lake Tribe) in the wake of the Enbridge Pipeline 6B oil spill. Her first film Native and American (2017), explores identity through the lens of a young Potawatomi woman as she navigates her tribe’s blood quantum standards. Brit’s films have screened both nationally and abroad, including Māoriland Film Festival. She was awarded NeXtGen’s 30 Under 30 and was a NeXt Doc Collective Film Fellow. Brit recently worked on the first season of the FX series, Reservation Dogs. Her short film, ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (What They’ve Been Taught) was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival in 2022. ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (What They’ve Been Taught) is also a part of the Reciprocity Project by Nia Tero at Upstander Project. Brit’s work largely explores traditional Cherokee values, language, and her peoples’ connection to land in Oklahoma (former Indian Territory) and in her ancestral homelands of North Carolina (Qualla Boundary). Brit continues to use her love for storytelling to help amplify the voices and values of her community. Most importantly, she hopes her work honors and makes Cherokee people proud.