Jeevi Films

An elderly farmer and his family return home to their village after trying to make money in the city, only to find it destitute and ruled by exploitative employers and a hungry tiger. Both the greedy employers and the tiger are protected by the government, but only the death at the hands of one will provide compensation.

On land marked by erasure, a 1923 federal “No Dancing Letter” ordered hundreds of Tribal Nations to stop ceremonies. The Meskwaki answered with a powwow that became resistance and continues to this day. Filmed across the Rosebud Reservation, the Meskwaki Settlement, the Twin Cities, Oʻahu, Hawaii and Mataxhi, Mexico, Why We Dance traces the enduring journey of Indigenous dance from attempted silencing to Land Back, revealing how movement carries culture, memory, and belonging across generations