Ryan Stopera

Ruunta, or “truth” in Somali, celebrates the nuanced lived experiences of the Somali community in Minneapolis, the challenges we face, the beauty within our connection with each other and the ancestors who guide us along the way. Ruunta follows a young Somali man torn between who he is expected to be and who he knows he is—in a city that knocks him down and lifts him up.

serenity transcends time within the story of Li and his family. As Li struggles with the death of his sister Jessie, he finds himself falling down the same path by abusing drugs, but the strength of their love allows them to reach each other after she has passed away.

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

Ruunta, or “truth” in Somali, celebrates the nuanced lived experiences of the Somali community in Minneapolis, the challenges we face, the beauty within our connection with each other and the ancestors who guide us along the way. Ruunta follows a young Somali man torn between who he is expected to be and who he knows he is—in a city that knocks him down and lifts him up.

serenity transcends time within the story of Li and his family. As Li struggles with the death of his sister Jessie, he finds himself falling down the same path by abusing drugs, but the strength of their love allows them to reach each other after she has passed away.

serenity transcends time within the story of Li and his family. As Li struggles with the death of his sister Jessie, he finds himself falling down the same path by abusing drugs, but the strength of their love allows them to reach each other after she has passed away.

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