An AIO-NM (Americans for Indian Opportunity), INDIGENOUS CINEMA SCREENINGS, and NATIVEZINE Productions special!   BONUS - Producer & actor Gary Farmer in person to moderate a post screening discussion with Mitch Walking Elk, an enrolled member of the Southern Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma/Hopi who's also a recording artist, songwriter!

The Doctrine of Discovery is the term for 15th-century decrees issued by the Vatican that authorized conquest and colonization, and later became enshrined in U.S. law.

The film follows a group of Indigenous teenagers from Minneapolis/St.Paul who travel to Rome to meet with Vatican officials and advocate for the repudiation of the Doctrine.

Also featured are Indigenous activists in Aotearoa New Zealand, Guatemala, New Caledonia, and Puerto Rico. The film exposes how the Doctrine of Discovery has targeted communities of color, was the origin of the transatlantic slave trade, and enables corporate forces driving the climate crisis.

The story of the Doctrine of Discovery — papal bulls issued by the Vatican that authorized conquest and colonization, adapted as international law — spans centuries and continents. In the 15th century, during the “Age of Exploration”, popes granted Spanish and Portuguese monarchs the right to seize lands not owned by other European Christian monarchs. These papal bulls also codified racism and slavery. Other European countries followed suit, and in 1823, the Supreme Court incorporated the Doctrine into U.S. law. Yet this is no relic of history. The Supreme Court has cited the 1823 Johnson v. M’Intosh case as recently as 2005 to overturn a tribal sovereignty claim upheld by lower courts, making it both relevant and necessary to explore the ongoing impact of the Doctrine in the 21st century.