You think you know corn? These ancestors will humble you.
Looking at how the Creation stories of the Hopi, Nahua and Maya give them a special connection to maize/corn, synthesized in the statement, “We are corn”. There are many songs, displays and ceremonial practices that affirm this connection. Waaki looks deeper into the world community and how it is connected to maize/corn – what are the interrelationships that exist and celebrates the human capacity for tolerance and compassion in a time when people are becoming more intolerant of difference.
Cinematography
Stunning Southwest landscapes that breathe.
Sound
Ceremonial songs that carry millennia.
Director
Victor Masayesva Jr.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Victor Masayesva Jr. is a pioneering Indigenous filmmaker who coined 'Indigenous aesthetic'—rejecting Western documentary conventions for Hopi visual sovereignty.
The film's title 'Sanctuary' refers not to refuge but to sacred obligation: maize as living relative requiring reciprocal care, not extraction.
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