Powwow Highway (1989)

Incluvie has a rich history of welcoming all kinds of people into the conversation. 

Quite recently, I have talked with actress, filmmaker, recording artist, and founder of Red Nation Television Network, Joanelle Romero. Her mother went on to make several Elvis Presley films as a background dancer. Romero learned from a very early age how movies were made, practically born into the entertainment industry. 

She has been in the industry for 45 years and her first leading role was in 1977 called The Girl Called Hatter Fox. She guest starred in television and even starred in a George Harrison-produced film called Powwow Highway. 

When it came to Red Nation Television, she created a platform for Native Indigenous content creatives and created the aforementioned non-profit Red Nation Celebration Institute. 

Romero elaborated saying, “Under that banner, we have now the largest Native Film Festival in the country, we have Native women in film and television in all media, we have the Native Indigenous Student Academy for Cinematic Arts and we launched Red Nation Television Network predating Netflix or before anyone was online streaming. So, we’ve been doing this for a hot minute and we just keep growing.”