[Editor’s Note – November 3, 2023: Recent investigative reports have sought to raise questions about Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous heritage. Sainte-Marie has stated that she is uncertain of her biological heritage and affirms her formal adoption into and identification with the Cree nation.]
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On features never-before-seen archival material, new performance footage and interviews with Sainte-Marie, Joni Mitchell, Sonia Manzano, John Kay, Robbie Robertson, Jackson Browne and others.
Over a career spanning six decades, Cree musician, artist and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie has used her platform to campaign for Indigenous and women’s rights and inspired multiple generations of musicians, artists and activists. Following a world premiere at The Toronto International Film Festival in 2022, American Masters – Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On premieres nationwide Tuesday, November 22 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings), pbs.org/americanmasters and the PBS Video App in honor of Native American Heritage Month.
Directed by Madison Thomas, Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On chronicles Sainte-Marie’s rise in New York’s Greenwich Village folk music scene through her groundbreaking career, featuring interviews with Joni Mitchell (singer, songwriter, artist), Sonia Manzano (Maria on Sesame Street), John Kay (lead singer-songwriter of Steppenwolf, solo artist), Robbie Robertson (musician), Jackson Browne (musician), George Stroumboulopoulos (music journalist), Andrea Warner (author) and more.
Sainte-Marie’s career took flight when she received a rave review in The New York Times and caught the eye of Vanguard Records, who released her debut album, It’s My Way. Consistently recognized for being ahead of her time, Sainte-Marie’s music revealed her most sincere opinions differentiating her from the other female pop musicians of the 1960s. Early in her career she spoke out against the Vietnam War with her song “Universal Soldier,” against readily available opioids with “Cod’ine” and shared her views on romance with “Until It’s Time for You to Go,” which has been covered by artists such as Elvis, Barbra Streisand, Cher and Neil Diamond.
Sainte-Marie changed perceptions of Indigenous people in music, film and television. When approached to play a lead role in a 1968 episode of The Virginian, she famously demanded that all Indigenous roles be played by Indigenous peoples. Additionally, across her five-year stint on Sesame Street, she was the first woman to nurse on television, and she helped create segments based on her experiences as an Indigenous woman in North America.
After winning the Academy Award for writing “Up Where We Belong” from An Officer and a Gentleman with her then husband, Jack Nitzsche, Saint-Marie stepped out of the spotlight. She returned to music after a fourteen-year hiatus with her critically acclaimed album Coincidence and Likely Stories. In 2015, she beat out Drake for the Polaris Music Prize for her album Power in the Blood. At the age of 81, Sainte-Marie actively tours and continues to be an activist for Indigenous rights, including championing efforts to end the oppression of and violence against Indigenous women.
After the broadcast premiere of Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On, stay tuned for a sneak peek of our next season of In The Making.
In The Making is a digital series from American Masters and Firelight Media that follows emerging cultural icons – creators who bring insight and originality to their craft – on their journeys to becoming masters of their artistic disciplines. Join us for a first look at Jonathan Thunder: Good Mythology.
About The Film – Jonathan Thunder: Good Mythology
Filmmaker Sergio Rapu follows Anishinaabe artist Jonathan Thunder as he dives deep into the inspirations behind his surrealist paintings and animations. From the killing of an iconic American hero to critical perspectives of how indigenous people were portrayed in early children’s cartoons, Thunder’s art prompts viewers to take a critical look at our shared mythologies.
Artist Biography – Jonathan Thunder
Artist Jonathan Thunder.
Thunder infuses his personal lens with real-time world experiences using a wide range of mediums. He is known for his surreal paintings, digitally animated films and installations in which he addresses subject matter of personal experience and social commentary. Jonathan is an enrolled member of the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe, and makes his home and studio in Duluth, MN.
He has attended the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, NM and studied Visual Effects and Motion Graphics in Minneapolis, MN at the Art Institute International. His work has been featured in many states, regional, and national exhibitions, as well as in local and international publications. Thunder is the recipient of a 2020-21 Pollock – Krasner Foundation Award for his risk taking in painting. Since his first solo exhibit in 2004, he has won several awards for his short films in national and international competitions. His painting and digital work is in the permanent collections of multiple Museums and Universities.
Filmmaker Biography – Sergio Mata’u Rapu
Filmmaker Sergio Mata’u Rapu.
Rapu is a documentary filmmaker native to Rapa Nui (Easter Island). His content priorities are in uplifting under-represented voices and telling stories around environmental conservation.
His award-winning directorial debut, Eating Up Easter, was screened around the world and broadcast on PBS’s Independent Lens in 2020. In 2021 he produced and edited Bring Her Home, the latest feature by director Leya Hale (Dakota/Dine) which follows three Indigenous women as they work to vindicate and honor their missing and murdered relatives who are victims in the growing epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Sergio also developed and produced That Got Weird, a animated digital series about racism and microaggressions.
As one of the only native Rapanui working in documentary film, he seeks to uplift under-represented voices and create thought-provoking media around environmental conservation.