• Daughter of a Lost Bird

    Directed by Brooke Pepion Swaney
    USA | 66 minutes | True Stories

  • Daughter of a Lost Bird

    Directed by Brooke Pepion Swaney
    USA | 66 minutes | True Stories

  • Daughter of a Lost Bird

    Directed by Brooke Pepion Swaney
    USA | 66 minutes | True Stories

  • Daughter of a Lost Bird

    Directed by Brooke Pepion Swaney
    USA | 66 minutes | True Stories

Kendra was adopted and raised by a loving white family, not knowing of her Native parentage. Reconnecting with her birth mother and discovering her Lummi culture, she struggles to reconcile her white privilege with her growing Native anger in this moving and complex documentary.

film synopsis

Kendra Mylnechuk Potter was adopted and raised by a loving white family, with no knowledge of her Native parentage. She is one of many Native children removed from their families under the Indian Adoption Project, a government sponsored program likened to “cultural genocide.” In this moving and intimate film, Kendra searches for and reconnects with her birth mother, April, who was herself adopted and has survived a tragic life of addiction and homelessness. Brooke Pepion Swaney’s film, seven years in the making, raises knotty questions about identity as a conflicted Kendra, a new mother happily married to a white husband, journeys to her Lummi homeland in Washington state and struggles to reconcile a life of white privilege with her newly aroused Native anger. Where does she belong in the Lummi world, where she’s welcomed as family but feels like a tourist? Swaney’s empathetic camera follows Kendra on a complex journey both painful and beautiful.

film details

Director: Brooke Pepion Swaney
Producers: Brooke Pepion Swaney, Kendra Mylnechuk Potter, Jeri Rafter
Screenwriter: Brooke Pepion Swaney, Kristen Swanbeck
Cinematographers: Zelmira Gainza
Editor: Kristen Swanbeck
Music: Laura Ortman
Cast: Kendra Mylnechuk Potter, April Kowalski
Country: USA
Language: In English.
Year: 2021
Running Time: 66 minutes
Awards: Best Female Director, Woodstock Film Festival
Primary Company: Women Making Movies
Contact Email: coshea@wmm.com

Film Festival 2022