Industry News :: 'Johnny Tootall,' 'Trudell,' 'Hank Williams First Nation' take Indian festival awards

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When the 30th edition of San Francisco's American Indian Film Festival ended last week, it evoked emotions as mixed as the many tribes it focuses on.

"It was uplifting, but there was also anger along with joy, sadness and most importantly, pride," said Michael Smith, president and founder of the festival, which moved to San Francisco in 1977 after two years in Seattle.

Smith, who is of Sioux descent, has watched the film festival grow from ahandful of 16mm submissions to the more than 1,000 glimpses of American Indian life captured on lenses across the country and delivered to his office this year. But something is still missing.

"The hope is to soon have a nationally televised American Indian films award show," said Smith. "Every ethnic group in the country has their own awards show except our people. We want to see that change."

In the meantime, there was much to celebrate at the American Indian Motion Picture Awards Show that Smith hosted at the Palace of Fine Arts, where about 1,000 people gathered on Saturday.

Among the winners:

Best film went to "Johnny Tootall," directed by Shirley Cheechoo, about a confused Bosnian War veteran returning home to face the new battle of becoming chief of the band.

Aaron James Sorensen won the best director award for his film "Hank Williams First Nation," a contemporary look at life on a remote reservation in the north of Canada.

The sleeper of the festival may have been "Trudell," which took the best documentary feature award. Directed by Heather Rae, the festival opener was a biography of John Trudell, an Indian poet and musician who was one of the leaders of the 1969 takeover of Alcatraz.

It was a perfect opener, according to Smith, because "Trudell is a lightning rod of energy that inspires Indian people to take charge and stand up against injustice."

E-mail Delfin Vigil at dvigil@sfchronicle.com.