Ms. Judi gaiashkibos, Co-Director/Executive Producer, has been the executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs since 1995. She has worked with the government and private sector to provide opportunities for Nebraska Indians, fostered diversity and cultural sensitivity in the Nebraska State Legislature, promoted state and federal legislation, and advanced sovereignty issues.
She is an enrolled member of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and holds degrees in Human Relations and Leadership from Doane College. In 2012, she was the recipient of the Humanities Nebraska Sower Award.
Her passions include, but are certainly not limited to, creating a greater understanding of the scope and causes of missing Native women and children in Nebraska, developing educational opportunities for native youth such as the ongoing Sovereign Native Youth Leadership Camp and the Chief Standing Bear Scholarships, serving on countless non-profit and institutional boards like University of Nebraska President’s Advisory Council, United Way, Doane University Board of Trustees and the Governor’s Education and Workforce Roundtable, and celebrating the stories of Nebraska’s Native heroes by launching the Dr. Susan La Flesche Hospital Renovation project recognizing the story of the United States first Native American doctor and fostering the installation of a trio of sculptures honoring Ponca Chief Standing Bear, beginning on Lincoln’s Centennial Mall in 2017 and ending with a historic placement and dedication in Statuary Hall in Washington, DC. In 2019.
“Standing Bear’s story is a part of history that we as a country need to know for what it is, both good and bad. His journey from Oklahoma to a Nebraska courtroom, and now to Statuary Hall as told in this movie, is a triumph. His story is even more relevant today, serving as a thought provoking piece about contemporary issues of equality, equal rights and justice. It is my hope that this movie will have a long and vital life in sharing this important narrative about a Native American hero.”
Ingrid Holmquist is a filmmaker and video journalist working primarily on documentary projects. She most recently worked as an Associate Producer on eight feature-length historic documentaries produced by CNN Specials. Independently, with her production partner Sana A. Malik, Ingrid produced, shot, and edited the student BAFTA-award winning documentary, Guanajuato Norte. The film follows Wenceslao Contreras Galvan, a migrant farmworker in Connecticut, and his sacrifice of being away from his family to provide a better life for his children in Mexico. The film went on to screen multiple film festivals, including DOC NYC, and was acquired by The New Yorker. Ingrid is from Nebraska, based in NYC.”
