Native Lights is a weekly, half-hour radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce -- a.k.a. Minnesota -- to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community.

On today’s show, we talk with Leya Hale (Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota and Diné Nations), a producer for Twin Cities PBS, who is known for her feature documentary, The People’s Protectors, a Vision Maker Media grant production, and winner of the 2019 Upper Midwest Emmy Award for Outstanding Cultural Documentary. 

In 2020, Leya was awarded the Sundance Institute Merata Mita Fellowship for Indigenous Artists and attended the 2020 Berlinale European Film Market as a NATIVe Fellow.

Most recently, Leya Hale completed her second feature, Bring Her Home, a powerful and hopeful documentary that highlights the stories of three women fighting to vindicate and honor their missing and murdered relatives, while shining a light on this growing epidemic across Indian country. 

We loved hearing how Leya carved her path to becoming a Director/Producer, how she uncovered her unique voice and vision, and how she shares her gifts by encouraging and mentoring other young Indigenous filmmakers. 

Bring Her Home premiered at the 2022 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and is now being distributed nationally by PBS. Find out how you can watch the film here:  https://www.tpt.org/bring-her-home/video/bring-her-home-hf8spa/

Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund. Online at https://minnesotanativenews.org/