This Land Carries Us, Created for ‘Tewa Nangeh/Tewa Country,’ Wins Best Documentary Short at deadCenter Film Festival

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-September 29, 2026-(Santa Fe, NM)-This Land Carries Us, a short experimental documentary by Tewa filmmaker Charine Pilar Gonzales (San Ildefonso Pueblo), won the Best Documentary Short award at the 2026 deadCenter Film Festival, an Oscar® Qualifying Film Festival, in the Documentary Short Category.

Created for the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s Tewa Nangeh/Tewa Country exhibition, This Land Carries Us centers Tewa stories and memory across Tewa homelands in Northern New Mexico. Guided by the voice of the filmmaker’s grandmother, who recites a story written by Gonzales’s late younger brother in the Tewa language, the film unfolds as a sensory meditation on land, family, and intergenerational connection.

“Charine’s film has been an extraordinary component of Tewa Nangeh/Tewa Country. This Land Carries Us has inspired visitors as a powerful and deeply personal representation of Tewa life. It is no surprise to see it gaining recognition in the film industry, and we’re thrilled to see This Land Carries Us continue reaching audiences following its Best Documentary Short win at the 2026 deadCenter Film Festival,” said Bess Murphy, co-curator of Tewa Nangeh/Tewa Country and Luce Curator of Art and Social Practice for the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

The film responds directly to the absence of Tewa people in landscapes historically celebrated in Georgia O’Keeffe’s work, re-centering Tewa presence.

“Creating this film alongside my family for Tewa Nangeh/Tewa Country was especially meaningful,” said Gonzales. “My family is present throughout the film, both behind and in front of the camera. I’m honored that the film has resonated with audiences, and grateful to deadCenter for recognizing Indigenous storytelling and the many ways stories can be told.”

Tewa Nangeh/Tewa Country is an exhibition created by and for Tewa people that foregrounds Tewa perspectives, histories, and contemporary experiences across Tewa homelands. This Land Carries Us remains on view as part of the exhibition at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe through November 1, 2026.

Gonzales is a Tewa filmmaker from San Ildefonso Pueblo (PoWohGeh Owingeh) and Santa Fe (OgaPogeh Owingeh), New Mexico. Her recent films include This Land Carries Us, winner of Best Documentary Short at the 2026 deadCenter Film Festival; PoWohGeh Speaks (2025), the first feature film entirely in Tewa, created in partnership with San Ildefonso Pueblo; and River Bank (Pō-Kehgeh) (2023), a short film that marked the return of narrative fiction filmmaking to San Ildefonso Pueblo for the first time since the 1980s. Gonzales co-produced Winding Path (Sundance 2024) and served as an associate producer on People of the West (upcoming).

—

Download PDF

ABOUT THE GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM
Since 1997, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum celebrates the art, life, and independent spirit of Georgia O’Keeffe. Located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Georgia O’Keeffe lived the final decades of her life, the O’Keeffe has sites and experiences in two historic destinations, Santa Fe and Abiquiú. For more information, please visit gokm.org

ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Charine Pilar Gonzales is a Tewa filmmaker from San Ildefonso Pueblo (PoWohGeh Owingeh) and Santa Fe (OgaPogeh Owingeh), New Mexico. She is a recent graduate of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing – Screenwriting (MFACW) program at the Institute of American Indian Arts and is a 2026 Forge Project Fellow, 2026 imagineNATIVE Screenwriting Shorts Lab Fellow, 2025 Stowe Story Lab New Voices – New Mexico Fellow, and 2024 Sundance Institute Native Lab Fellow.

MEDIA CONTACTS

FILM INFORMATION

Title: This Land Carries Us
Director: Charine Pilar Gonzales
Running Time: 4 min. 15 sec.
Year: 2025
Country: United States
Language: Tewa, English
Genre: Experimental Documentary

—

Editor’s note: This release was updated on August 11, 2026, to reflect current language regarding the film’s Best Documentary Short award at the 2026 deadCenter Film Festival.