Witness 4 Delegation & Special Programme at Interfilm 42

BERLIN, GERMANY

The Arctic Indigenous Film Fund (AIFF), in partnership with the Indigenous Screen Office (ISO), is proud to announce the selected filmmakers for the fourth edition of The Witness Short Film Series, alongside a comprehensive slate of workshops, industry panels, and public retrospective screenings at the Interfilm 42 International Short Film Festival Berlin (10–15 November 2026).

Witness is a premier training and production initiative for emerging Indigenous filmmakers from the global circumpolar Arctic, pairing funding and direct mentorship with an immersive festival lab experience. In this fourth cycle, selected directors are challenged to create non-conventional, artist-driven short documentaries (3–5 minutes) exploring personal, community-grounded perspectives on climate change, placing sound design conceptualisation and creative audio implementation at the centre of their cinematic narrative.

“Witness continues to champion Arctic narrative sovereignty and bold cinematic form across the circumpolar world,” says Jason Ryle, Director of AIFF.

“By bringing our cohort directly to Interfilm in Berlin – one of the continent’s top short film festivals – we are creating a dedicated bridge between Arctic Indigenous artists and the European industry, highlighting vital stories of environmental transformation told entirely on our own terms.”

“The Indigenous Screen Office is thrilled to support these exceptional storytellers as they bring urgent circumpolar perspectives to global audiences,” says Melanie Nepinak Hadley, Vice-President, Industry, Partnerships and Growth of the ISO.

“Initiatives like Witness not only ensure that Indigenous creators have the resources and international networks to innovate artistically, but also affirm the vital role our communities play in leading international conversations around climate, culture, and sovereign storytelling.”

Witness 4: Selected Directors & Projects

Akinasi Partridge (Inuk, Mohawk, Canada)

Akinasi Partridge is an Ottawa-based multidisciplinary artist specialising in illustration, printmaking, beadwork, spoken word, and filmmaking. Featured at the National Gallery of Canada and international film festivals, her work explores 2S/LGBTQIA+ Indigenous resistance, land reconnection, and cultural reclamation through traditional practices, collaborative installations, and screen media.

Project: Kuuvvaluk (The Sound of Rushing Water)

Following an ancestral migration from northern waterways to urban Montreal, Kuuvvaluk contrasts land-based knowledge with city life. Experimental imagery of the Kuujjuaq River and Ungava Bay collides with throat singing, spoken word, and environmental field recordings, turning the shifting flow of northern waters into an intimate reflection on climate change.

AldaRós Olsen Rosing (Inuk, Greenland)

AldaRós Olsen Rosing, from Nuuk, previously served as Chairperson for the Greenland Oscar Committee. She is currently studying at the European Film College in Denmark. With experience in film casting, film workshops, and orchestral performance, she combines practical creative experience with active youth advocacy through NAKUUSA and Nordic summits.

Project: The Invisible Breath

The Arctic wind, unseen yet powerful, controls Inuit lives as the climate changes. Through collapsing glaciers, violent Kapisillit windstorms, and ancestral weather knowledge, The Invisible Breath captures an intangible yet dominating atmosphere, witnessing how a changing climate alters the very breath of the Earth.

Johannes Vang (Sámi, Sápmi / Norway)

Johannes Vang is an award-winning Sámi-Norwegian director from Ráisa. Working across fiction and documentary, his films explore Arctic Indigenous identity, youth culture, and North Sámi language reclamation.

Project: Elegy of Our Salmon

Along the emptied banks of the Tana River, where wild salmon have vanished and boats sit dry, Elegy of Our Salmon witnesses traditions facing sudden erasure. Plunging from silent riverbeds to youth-led street protests in Oslo, the film blends underwater resonance, joik, and fierce slam poetry to ignite active political resistance.

Michael Code (Sayisi Dene, Canada)

Project: On Fire

As catastrophic wildfires incinerate boreal forests and essential winter lichen, caribou herds struggle across blackened landscapes to survive. Intertwining elemental destruction with ancient Dene star cosmology and modern hunting realities, On Fire traces the fragile bond connecting northern communities to the animals that sustain them amid escalating climate cycles.

Industry Lab & Professional Development

While in Berlin, the Witness 4 cohort will participate in an intensive professional development lab spanning cinematography, sound design, editing, post-production workflows, production management, and international distribution. Mentors and workshop leaders include:

filmmaker and longtime Witness mentor Darlene Naponse (Canada)
Witness filmmaking alumna and now mentor Sadetło Scott (Canada)
cinematographer Mahdiye Agahi (Iran)
producer Caroline Kirberg (Germany)
editor Katharina Voß (Germany)
Witness alumnus, composer, and sound designer Marc Fussing Rosbach (Greenland)
alongside Sarah Dombrink (Germany), Lucy Pizaña (Mexico), and Lola Lambert (France) from the Interfilm distribution team.

Public Screenings & Special Forum Events

All public screenings and forum discussions will be moderated by AIFF director Jason Ryle.

Darlene Naponse Retrospective Showcase

Date & Time: Wednesday, 11 November 2026 at 20:00
Location: Roter Salon, Volksbühne Berlin
Taking as its departure point Indigenous Anishinaabe perspectives on land as a web of relationships encompassing everything above, below, and around us, this special Forum event explores Naponse’s pioneering practice of land-based filmmaking. Featuring early seminal works realised when few Indigenous creators had access to cameras or production funding ($4 INDIAN, WAITING FOR THE ICE TO MELT, CYCLIC ROOTS) alongside excerpts from AKI (2025), the session explores how land directly shapes the conception, production, and aesthetics of cinema in an era of ecological crisis.

Witness 1–3 Retrospective Screenings

Screening 1: Thursday, 12 November 2026 at 20:30 at ACUDkino
Screening 2: Saturday, 14 November 2026 at 18:00 at Sinema Transtopia
Across two dedicated screenings, AIFF presents the complete series of short films produced during the first three editions of Witness, showcasing personal climate perspectives by Indigenous alumni from across Greenland, Sápmi, Canada, and Alaska.

About the Arctic Indigenous Film Fund (AIFF)

Launched in 2018 by leading international media bodies, including the Sundance Institute, Canada Media Fund, International Sámi Film Institute, Nunavut Film Corporation, Film Greenland, and Sakha Film, the Arctic Indigenous Film Fund is a non-profit foundation dedicated to Arctic Indigenous filmmakers. AIFF builds capacity across the circumpolar north by offering targeted training programmes, production funding, and co-production opportunities that foster narrative sovereignty on a global stage.

About AIFF