Bird Runningwater
Bird Runningwater belongs to the Cheyenne and Mescalero Apache Tribal Nations, and grew up on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico. He is a Producer and Executive Producer for film and television. He is an Executive Producer on Erica Tremblay’s debut feature film Fancy Dance starring Lily Gladstone which world-premiered in Competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and is being distributed by Apple TV+.
He is currently in production on the «Free Leonard Peltier» documentary project serving as an executive producer, and is also an executive producer on the Norwegian/Danish Co-production Phantoms of the Sierra Madre which world premiered at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen, Denmark in March 2024. Prior to launching his own production company, Runningwater guided the Sundance Institute’s commitment to Indigenous Filmmakers for 20 years nurturing new generations of filmmakers through the Institute’s Labs and Sundance Film Festival. He also served as the head of the Institute’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work Institute-wide.
Runningwater is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and was recently appointed to serve on the Library of Congress' National Film Preservation Board. In Time Magazine’s 2019 Optimist Issue, Runningwater was listed among «12 Leaders Who Are Shaping the Next Generation of Artists».