Seventeen-year-old Ku Stevens is the only cross-country runner at his high school on the Yerington Paiute reservation. Training without a coach, he dreams of earning a spot at the University of Oregon, but the path ahead is haunted by the past: his great-grandfather, Frank Quinn, escaped an “Indian boarding school” as a child by running 50 miles through the Nevada desert. As Ku prepares for his collegiate competition, he retraces Frank’s escape route in a commemorative race — transforming memory into movement, and survival into strength.
With striking intimacy and restrained power, Remaining Native links personal ambition with collective memory, confronting the enduring legacies of state violence against Indigenous communities. First-time director Paige Bethmann, a Haudenosaunee (Mohawk/Oneida) filmmaker, draws from her own family history to explore what it means to inherit trauma and move through it. Winner of both the Documentary Feature Audience Award and a Special Jury Award at SXSW 2025, this is a vital document of youth-led reclamation and Indigenous resilience.
Special Jury Prize, Audience Award, SXSW 2025
Oct 7: Q&A
Media Partner
Community Partner
Kutoven “Ku” Stevens
USA
2025
English
Residential schools
Open to youth!
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Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Randy Gebhardt, Christopher Gebhardt, Dawn Bonder, Daniel J. Chalfen, Marci Wiseman, Andrea Meditch, Billy Mills, Tracy Rector, Wendy Ettinger
Producer
Jessica Epstein, Paige Bethmann, Judd Ehrlich
Cinematography
Shai Ben-Dor, Paige Bethmann
Editor
Stephanie Khoury
Original Music
Kino Benally
Paige Bethmann
Paige Bethmann is a Haudenosaunee woman (Mohawk/Oneida) and first-time feature filmmaker based in Reno, Nevada. Over the last 10 years, she has worked in non-fiction television for various digital and broadcast networks such as ESPN, PBS, Vox Media, Youtube Originals, USA, and NBC. She is a graduate of Ithaca College, with a bachelor’s degree in film, television, and radio from the Park School of Communications. Bethmann has been supported and recognized by a number of organizations, most recently including Big Sky Pitch (2023), DOC NYC 40 under 40 (2024), and the New America Fellowship (2024).
Insights
See more films in this series
Remaining Native
Teenager Ku Stevens runs toward his dreams while retracing the path of his great-grandfather’s escape from an "Indian boarding school". An impressive, urgent debut from Paige Bethmann about memory, endurance, and what it truly means to remain Native.
Landmarks
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Image: © The New York Times
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