Award-winning filmmaker Ben-Alex Dupris is Mnicoujou Lakota and an enrolled member of the Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington state, where he grew up on the Colville Reservation. Dupris is a director, writer, and producer who creates work that pushes the boundaries of Indigeneity beyond traditional pastoralism and into the grey areas of 21st century America. By highlighting Native struggles within a historically colonial society, his storytelling liberates relationships within “Indian Country.” In this way, his craft encourages positive conversations towards healing and change. His film “Sweetheart Dancers'' earned Dupris the Railroad Pass Best Nevada Filmmaker award at the 2019 Dam Short Film Festival and the 2019 Grand Jury Award for best short film at Outfest L.A. – an Oscar/Academy Award-qualifying LGBTQ+ film festival. Dupris also produced Paulette (2019) for veteran film director/producer Heather Rae (Sundance/Guardian Films). In 2020, his first collaborative short animation “Sister Wolves” won Achievement in Animation at L.A. SkinsFest. Dupris is a Sundance Institute Rauschenberg Producer’s Fellow, a Davis Guggenheim’s Concordia Studio Artist-In-Residence Alumni, a Firelight Media Impact Producer’s Fellow, and an inaugural Redford Center grantee recipient.  In 2021, the Smithsonian showcased Dupris' short documentary film "Nuwu Means the People" in the Futures We Dream exhibit. This project features the origin story of the Nuwu Art collective, who are building a vibrant community hub against the backdrop of the concrete and neon lights of Las Vegas.