Current
These projects are currently in production or post-production. Click on the project you would like to explore.
Foodways
A poetic short film posing innocent questions about our Indigenous foodways.
A short film presenting innocent questions about our Indigenous foodways.
Zachariah Ben (Diné) and his son in front of Tse bi tai.
At a glance
Project scope: 12-15 minute documentary film and photography collection
Target premiere date: February 2026
This project is currently in post-production.
Creators of Foodways
Cetan Cristensen
Producer
Cetan (Oglala Lakota) is a Lead Program Officer at First Nations Development Institute.
She’s currently based Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Esai Saenz
Dir. of Photography
Esai is a recording artist, actor, and filmmaker based in Kansas City, Missouri.
buhito
Director, Producer, & Writer
I’m a documentarian currently creating out of Kansas City, Missouri.
Buffalo Soup
Buffalo is medicine. Buffalo Soup gives a simple, moving glimpse into the restorative power of the buffalo and how Lakota buffalo knowledge transfers from one generation to another, and back again.
Buffalo Soup peeks into how Lakota knowledge of buffalo medicine transfers from one generation to another, and back again.
Moments after the buffalo relative was taken from the range.
At a glance
Project scope: 12-15 minute documentary film and photography collection
Target premiere date: April 2026
This project is currently in post-production.
Characters & creators of Buffalo Soup
Elsie DuBray
Executive Producer
Elsie (Oohenunpa Lakxota, Nueta, Hidatsa) is a Tribal Food Systems Fellow at First Nations Development Institute, and a 360-degree badass.
She’s currently based in San Francisco, California.
Naomi Jade Watts
Re-Membering Crew
Naomi is an emerging visual artist currently based in Kansas City, Missouri.
Tiffany Watts
Re-Membering Crew
Tiffany is a journalist and advocate within the food system. She’s based in Kansas City, Missouri.
Ruby Montoya
Camera Operator & Portrait Photographer
Ruby is a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker based in Kansas City, Kansas.
Keenan Dailey
Dir. of Photography
Keenan is a multidisciplinary artist based in Atlanta, GA.
Jillian Waln
Assistant Producer
Jillian (Siċaŋġu Lak̇ot̄a Oyate) tells Native stories and tells them really, really well.
buhito
Director, Producer, & Writer
I’m a documentarian currently creating out of Kansas City, Missouri.
Masika Learns to Swim
Masika – whose name means “born during rain” – explores her complicated relationship to water, leading to a deeper understanding of herself and the currents around her.
Masika – whose name means “born during rain” – explores her complicated relationship to water, leading to a deeper understanding of herself and the currents around her.
An early concept sketch for the project.
At a glance
Project scope: 12-15 minute documentary film
Target premiere date: June 2026, during the week leading up to Juneteenth
This project is currently in post-production.
Another early concept sketch for the project.
Characters & creators of Masika Learns to Swim
Masika Henson
Co-Director & Protagonist
Masika is the main character of the film. She’s based in Oakland, CA.
Keenan Dailey
Dir. of Photography, Editor, & Composer
Keenan is a multidisciplinary artist based in Atlanta, GA.
buhito
Director, Producer, & Writer
I’m a documentarian currently creating out of Kansas City, Missouri.
Aleisi // Rijst
At the edge of the Amazon in Suriname, a woman cultivates one of the rarest rices in the world. While researchers wonder if her rice could help other farmers adapt to climate changes, Albertina brings forth her cultural relationship with the aleisi.
At the edge of the Amazon in Suriname, a woman cultivates one of the rarest rices in the world. While researchers wonder if her rice could help other farmers adapt to climate changes, Albertina brings forth her cultural relationship with the aleisi.
Twin sisters holding a bunch of rice in front of their mother’s kitchen.
At a glance
Project scope: 15 minute documentary film
Target premiere date: Late Oct - Early Nov 2025
This project is currently in that blurry place between production and post-production.
Synopsis: Aleisi // Rijst
At the edge of the Amazon in Suriname, a woman cultivates one of the rarest rices in the world. While researchers wonder if her rice could help other farmers adapt to climate changes, Albertina brings forth her cultural relationship with the aleisi.
300 years ago, a young woman from West Africa liberated herself from slavery in Suriname.
Other women on the plantation braided grains of rice into Ma Paanza’s hair before she and her husband – Adyako – fled into the forest. When Ma Paanza and Adyako reached the safety of the Amazon, they cultivated the rice.
Today, not far downstream from where Ma Paanza found refuge, there is a woman who protects the rice that Ma Paanza planted centuries ago.
Tall trees watch over Albertina’s farm. The sun rises in Brokopondo as her three young children help her put on her rubber boots before she goes to the field. Albertina knew that her rice was special – a descendant of Ma Paanza’s rice – but it wasn’t until researchers analyzed specimens from her plot that she began to understand how precious these rices were.
Albertina and the trees were protecting some of the rarest rices in the world.
On the other side of Suriname in Nickerie, there’s a seed bank at ADRON, the country’s rice research institute. Researchers study the rice samples found throughout the country, including those from Albertina’s plot. They’re searching for a variety of rice that is more resilient to climate change, saltier water, and a fungi preying on the commercial rice cultivated throughout the region.
Will Ma Paanza’s // Albertina’s dry land aleisi get them closer to what they’re seeking?
Suriname is culturally and ecologically beautiful, and like many other societies (and most other colonies), its people continue to grapple with what it means to be “Surinamese.” In Aleisi // Rijst, the comparison between the rice in Nickerie and Brokopondo symbolizes that quest of identity.
Albertina Adyako looking out over her plot.
We hope to feature an element of hair art in the film and at the premiere.
Courtesy of The Folklore Group.
Characters & creators of Aleisi // Rijst
Javan and Shellen filming Albertina in her plot.
Main characters
Albertina Adyako
A mother, wife, farmer, and cultural advocate cultivating fruits and dry land rice.
Yves Diran
Leader of the Crop Management Program at ADRON, Suriname’s rice research institute.
Key creatives
Javan, Jair, and Shellen resting after a day in the field.
Shellen Arga
Co-director & Co-producer
Shellen is a Surinamese filmmaker currently studying in Belgium.
Jair Kertodikromo (left)
Javan Martokarijo (right)
Camera Operator & Director of Photography (respectively)
Jair & Javan are multi-disciplinary creators based in Suriname.
Jean-luc van Charante
Executive Producer
Jean-luc is the founder of INEFFABLE NV and a community leader based in Suriname.
buhito
Co-director, Co-producer, & Writer
I’m a documentarian currently creating out of Kansas City, Missouri.
A note from Jay
Suriname is a beautiful, warm place.
I’ve visited every year for several years now (except for 2020), and on one of my recent visits, I approached Jean-luc with an intention to make a Surinamese film.
He was down.
While I’m many things, I’m not Surinamese. To make a Surinamese film would require Surinamese crew who bring themselves to a Surinamese story. My hope was not to make a film about Suriname, as much as it was to make a story from Suriname, of Suriname. To accomplish that, the initial team and I felt that we should tap into the Surinamese diaspora to create the film, and to find a story that might include that diaspora in some way.
Rice gave us that storyline.
People have been “brought” to Suriname by colonial powers for hundreds of years, and their descendants now make up nearly the entire population of the country. Africans were kidnapped and trafficked from their lands. The Hindustani and Javanese were deceived and indentured, similar to many of the Chinese to this very day.
Other than arriving to Suriname in order to work, one thing these peoples share with each other was a staple food: rice. And this happens to be something that was not shared with their colonizers.
Rice gave us an opportunity to approach an important question that sometimes remains unanswered in the hearts and minds of my friends in SU: What does it really mean to be Surinamese?
Thanks to all the people who have supported this project already. If you would like to know how you can contribute to the project, please contact me here.
Aftermath
Jay grapples with the aftermath of gun violence in Kansas City, MO — his hometown. With the help of his closest homies, he sets out to photograph more than 1000 locations around the city where people were killed by guns between 2019 - 2024. The further the project goes, the closer Jay comes to reaching out to a friend awaiting trial for murder.
Jay grapples with the aftermath of gun violence in Kansas City, MO — his hometown. With the help of his closest homies, he sets out to photograph more than 1000 locations around the city where people were killed by guns between 2019 - 2024. The further the project goes, the closer Jay comes to reaching out to a friend awaiting trial for murder.
The concept trailer for Aftermath.
At a glance
Project scope: 60-120 minute documentary film and photo exhibition
Target premiere date: TBD
Current phase: This project is currently on hold.
Beneath 40 Highway, near a creek.
Synopsis of the film: Aftermath
A documentarian grapples with the aftermath of gun violence in Kansas City, MO — his hometown. With the help of his closest homies, Jay sets out to photograph more than 1000 locations around the city where people were killed by guns between 2019 - 2024. They’re working on an exhibit. The further the project goes, the closer Jay comes to reaching out to a friend awaiting trial for murder.
Despite Jay’s intimate knowledge of the city and news reports listing out KC’s murders, it turns out that it’s not that easy to find where things went down. In addition to that, they must put boundaries on what types of gun violence they could include in the project.
Jay interviews survivors, witnesses, first responders, funeral home directors, lawyers, spiritual leaders, and people who pulled the trigger, leading him to form a nuanced comprehension of gun violence; a view that does not make things simpler, but may make things clearer.
It ultimately becomes apparent that Jay is not just an artist with a vision. He’s navigating his own way through the aftermath of gun violence. And the further the project goes, the closer Jay comes to reaching out to a friend awaiting trial for murder.
Aftermath is about more than gun violence in one Midwestern city. It is a project that asks, Is restoration possible in the aftermath of gun violence? Even if it is, is it even worth it to try?
A memorial where a personal dispute on a basketball court led to gun violence.
Filming a location in the West Bottoms.
Aftermath is a fiscally sponsored project of SIMA STUDIOS, a 501c3 non-profit organization.
Characters & creators of Aftermath
Main characters
buhito
A documentarian and son of Kansas City grappling with the consequences of gun violence.
That’s me. This is the first time I’ve been my own protagonist (in a film, anyways).
As someone forever living in the aftermath of gun violence, I felt a responsibility to show myself on screen as I attempt to heal. My attempt involves — and possibly requires — creative expression.
I’m an artist, not an investigative journalist. And I approach my journey in this way. My hope is that my journey is useful to others grappling with the aftermath of violence in their own lives.
Other notable features
Casondra Foster
A licensed counselor.
Don Carter
A former police officer, and a mentor of Jay’s.
Key creatives
Cody Boston
Producer & Director of Photography
Cody’s an award-winning documentary filmmaker based in Kansas City, MO.
Mark Serrano
Asst. Photographer & Data Manager
Mark is a photographer and technologist based in Boston, MA.
buhito
Director & Writer
I’m a documentarian currently creating out of Kansas City, Missouri.
A note from buhito
This is not only a film about the possibility of restoration — it is an honest attempt at it.
After I filmed the concept trailer, I understood how important it would be that every person involved with the creation of this film to have had experience with gun violence. That required some adjustments, but it is proving to be the best decision. Everyone working on this project has been invited to this exploration of restoration, and they’ve accepted.
This is the most difficult project I’ve ever taken on.
Emotionally, spiritually, creatively, thematically, and logistically, it’s just complicated. Sometimes it does not feel worth the toll, but we feel a deeply compelling sense of responsibility to finish this thing.
We must continue. I know that one day we will feel fulfilled that we dealt with our fear, doubt, and the hurt of healing as this turns into an invitation to others to continue through whatever aftermath they are wading through.
Thanks to all the people who have supported this project already. If you would like to know how you can contribute to the project, please contact me here.
An update: Dec 1, 2025
I have not been able to figure this project out yet. Hitting pause while I re-evaluate.
Why We Fight
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A mini-doc positioning Farm Action against large lobbies that want to control what farmers grow, say, do, and sell to. But they ain’t scared.
Made in collaboration with Nathan.works.
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