Pow!
Director: Joey Clift
United States, 2024, 9 min
Shooting Format:Animation
Festival Year:2025
Category:Animation
Genres:Comedy, Video Games, Indigenous, Native American, Animation
Cast:Rainy Fields, Angela Startz, Jim Ruel, Joey Clift
Crew:Writer: Joey Clift. Producers: Mik Moore, Harold Moss, Donick Cary, Joey Clift, Tom Chorlton, Goldie Chan.
Email:joeyclift@gmail.com
Web:joeyclift.com/
Synopsis
A Native American kid scrambles to charge his dying video game console at a bustling intertribal powwow.
Trailer
About the director
Joey Clift is a Los Angeles-based comedian, Peabody and Emmy-nominated TV writer, director and an enrolled member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe. Growing up, Joey aspired to become a local TV weatherperson because he didn’t see Native American comedians on screen and thought a career in comedy was off-limits. He has since proven otherwise, carving a niche in animation by writing for acclaimed series like the Emmy-nominated Spirit Rangers (Netflix), Molly of Denali and Alma’s Way (PBS), New Looney Tunes and Lego Ninjago: Decoded (Cartoon Network), and Paw Patrol (Nickelodeon).
Filmmaker's note
Pow! is a love letter to my time spent as a bored Native kid, often dragged by my mom to powwows in tribal centers on the Tulalip Indian Reservation, where instead of powwow dancing I mostly searched for places to charge my Game Boy. Through that process I learned that loving video games and loving your culture don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
In my career in the animation industry I often have to separate my Native identity from my work. This is an industry where, for nearly a century, the only Native representation was either Disney’s Pocahontas, or animated shorts about cowboys shooting at Native “savage” stereotypes.
I’ve written a lot of cartoons, from series featuring Shrek, to Cocomelon Lane, and Bugs Bunny. I love helping to make silly animated shorts with an emphasis on physical comedy, but I’ve had few opportunities to bring my authentic culture into that space.
I’m excited to have a largely Indigenous Emmy and Annie Award winning dream team helping make Pow! We are so proud of this animated comedy short with a big Native heart, and we can’t thank you enough for watching and considering it!