Next 7 Generations in 2023 presented the first of what we intend to become an annual documentary film camp intended to mentor Indigenous Youth in film production; some of them attending the University of Oregon. This project was presented by longtime Oregon filmmaker Katherine K’iya Wilson and was originally held at the University of Oregon’s Many Nations Longhouse.

The students began with a group project on researching and filming The Lost Story of the Mother’s Day Powwow; which at the time was in its 55th year and deemed the only Oregon Heritage Event at the University of Oregon.

The film was completed in time to enter the Klamath Independent Film Festival, and was selected as a finalist, and then was requested to be submitted to the Tulalip Film Festival a month later and was also a finalist.

The students then created their own separate films which were shown at Next7’s Film Festival at the Longhouse in the Fall of 2023, to great applause and appreciation from the University, the community and even UO Cinema Studies Professors.

Next 7 had brought in professional filmmakers as one-on-one mentors for the students- and was then approached by several more local filmmakers who wanted to help open it up to a wider base of Native students and community members.

Because of the limitations of parking, equipment, and scheduling at the U of O and the Longhouse, we looked for a better space to implement their ideas and accept the amazing offers from the community for equipment and mentorship opportunities.

It was by answering a request from the Holiday Farm Wildfire-impacted community to help rebuild in a better way by including the voice of the First People of the McKenzie River in their organizations, that Next7 found a home for The Doc Camp.

“As a filmmaker and Indigenous Student Film Trainer, I knew that location is everything, and I wanted to pivot the program from the University of Oregon Longhouse to a more conducive place for Native Youth to learn and work and that had more room for events, more scheduling flexibility and better access. I sought help from McKenzie area non-profits that would not only create a place that fostered Indigenous creativity, but that also would be in line with Native values of environmental integrity, sincere land acknowledgement, and reciprocal community-building. After searching for a year, it was only the McKenzie Community Partnership that truly understood these goals and celebrated them- when they offered us this perfect space within the Lucky Boy Mining Camp Project, as they rebuilt Blue River.” – Katherine “K’iya” Wilson