Written & Directed by Joey Clift

A Native American kid scrambles to charge his dying video game console at a bustling intertribal powwow.

Celebrated Worldwide

Over 60 film festival selections including

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"Joey Clift's Pow! is loving, clever, and gorgeously animated. This is a short that invites viewers into a big Indian world with an even bigger heart."

— Julian Brave NoiseCat, Director,
SugarCane
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A Message from Joey Clift

"POW! is a love letter to my time spent as a bored Native kid, often dragged by my mom to powwows on the Tulalip Reservation, where instead of powwow dancing, I mostly searched for places to charge my Game Boy.

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 never saw people like me in the cartoons I loved as a kid—contemporary Native characters who were funny and complex. A big goal of mine with POW! was to show that a Native kid can be as funny as Bart Simpson—and that Native artists can innovate at the highest level of animation.

We made POW! with a largely Indigenous Emmy and Annie Award-winning dream team. We are so proud of this animated comedy short with a big Native heart."

— Joey Clift, Writer/Director, Enrolled Cowlitz Indian Tribal Member

Three Animation Styles, One Story

POW! uses three distinct animation styles:

16-bit pixel art

Watercolor & anime inspired animation

Animated Plains Native ledger art

Each animation style was chosen purposefully, to reflect a different character's nuanced perspective on powwows and their traditional culture.

Why This Is Important

POW! has one of the first theatrical uses of ledger art or powwows in animation history.

For centuries, celebrating Native culture openly in the United States was illegal, including large events like powwows. By featuring one of the first powwows in United States theatrical animation history, POW! honors generations of Native activists, fighting for contemporary Native people to celebrate our culture today.

Honoring the history of Native activism that allows us to participate in our culture is a major throughline of this film and that is on full display on our ledger art sequence.

In the 1800s, after the US military forcibly relocated Native people onto reservations, they left behind their military ledgers documenting their dehumanization of Native peoples. Native artists drew over those ledgers—transforming tools of oppression into tools of liberation.

A flashback sequence in POW! animated as ledger art uses authentic documents important to the history of Native activism, sourced with permission: the Cherokee syllabary, a ledger from the Haskell Indian School, Alcatraz Occupation documents and the Fort Laramie Treaty. 

The film also includes actual audio from the Standing Rock Water Protectors Dakota Access Pipeline protests of 2016. These aren't recreations—they're the actual artifacts of resistance, transformed through animation in partnership with the communities whose stories these are. 

We can’t thank these communities and organizations enough for believing in this story and trusting us with their history.

Community Impact

POW! and its “making of” featurette Behind The Powwow premiered on FNX (First Nations Experience), received a special screening by LA Mayor Karen Bass, was featured by NDN Collective for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2025 and has held dozens of screenings for tribal communities around the United States. Through partnership with Amplifier, the film and teaching materials are available to 20,000+ educators reaching 10 million+ students nationwide during Native American Heritage Month. 

Featured on NPR, ICT News, Animation Magazine, Cartoon Brew and at community screenings alongside the SXSW Award Winning documentary Remaining Native.

Meet the Filmmakers

A Largely Indigenous Emmy and Annie Award-Winning Dream Team

Joey Clift

Writer/Director
Cowlitz Indian Tribe

Joey Clift is an Emmy and Peabody Award-nominated writer, director, and enrolled member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe. His television writing credits include Spirit Rangers (Netflix), Molly of Denali (PBS), New Looney Tunes (Cartoon Network), Paw Patrol (Nickelodeon), and Alma's Way (PBS).

MIK MOORE

Executive Producer

Mik Moore is one of the leading cultural and narrative campaign strategists in the United States. He is known for developing innovative efforts to harness the power of digital media to create social change. 

HAROLD MOSS

Executive Producer

Harold Moss is the founder of FlickerLab, an Emmy Award-winning New York-based animation studio. Over twenty years, FlickerLab has produced award-winning content for Comedy Central, HBO, Cartoon Network, Showtime, and Nickelodeon.

DONICK CARY

Executive Producer

Emmy-winning writer and producer Donick Cary served as head writer for Late Night with David Letterman and co-executive producer for The Simpsons (Seasons 7-11), Parks and Recreation, New Girl, and Bored to Death.

MORGAN THOMPSON

Character & Background Designer
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma

Annie Award-winning animation artist. Morgan consulted on all Cherokee cultural elements. Credits include Storybots, Strawberry Shortcake, and her Annie Award-winning short The Fox & The Pigeon.

NORA MEEK

Storyboard Artist

Los Angeles-based board artist and writer. She's worked for Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Warner Brothers, and others on movies, pilots, TV series, and streaming content for Amazon and Netflix.

JORDAN KAMALU

Composer
Indigenous Hawaiian

Collaborative composer who brings his Indigenous Hawaiian heritage to every project. Recent work includes scoring the Emmy-nominated series Spirit Rangers. For POW!, Jordan created a unique "slider" system blending chiptune, funk, and traditional instrumentation.

JEFF CARPENTER

Sound Designer
Chickasaw Nation

Member of the Chickasaw Nation specializing in creative sound design. Jeff attended powwows for years, recording authentic soundscapes. He has worked with Activision/Blizzard and Netflix.

RAINY FIELDS

Cast - Voice of Jake
Muskogee Creek Nation 

Rainy Fields is a constant presence in the Los Angeles live theater scene, most notably as part of the “Native Voices” all Indigenous theater ensemble.

ANGELA STARTZ

Cast - Voice of Grandmother
Iñupiaq, North Slope

From her appearances in independent films like Maureen Bharoocha’s Golden Arm and her dedication to Native issues through her Indigenous film podcast Reel Indigenous, Angela Startz is a force to be reckoned with in the Oklahoma film scene. 

JIM RUEL

Cast - Voice of Dad
Ojibwe

Jim Ruel was a finalist in NBC’s Diversity Talent Search, with his comedy featured on ‘The World Stands Up’ and ‘Goin Native: the American Indian Comedy Slam’ on Showtime.

Art & Production