Documentary backdrop image for Founders (2022)

Documentary backdrop image for Founders (2022)

20229 minPGdoc-short

Founders

20229 minPGdoc-short

Fifty years of leadership at Sinte Gleska University on South Dakota’s Rosebud Reservation has established it as a model for Indian-controlled education.

Genres

Director

Synopsis

Fifty years of leadership at Sinte Gleska University on South Dakota’s Rosebud Reservation has established it as a model for Indian-controlled education.

People

Scott Faris

Scott Farisdirector

Scott Faris

Scott Fariswriter

Dr. Lionel R. Bordeauxcast

Synopsis

Sinte Gleska University, located on South Dakota’s Rosebud Reservation, has operated under the leadership of its first and only president for 50 years. The institution has set a precedent for Indian-controlled education, achieving significant milestones that have influenced the development of other tribal colleges. The documentary outlines the university's historic accomplishments and its commitment to ongoing innovation in education. Directed by Scott Faris, "Founders" presents a concise overview of this educational model.

Comments

What are people saying?

Play More Like This

Forced into Federal Boarding Schools as Children, Native Americans Confront the Past (2023)

Forced into Federal Boarding Schools as Children, Native Americans Confront the Past

Native Americans confront the legacy of federal boarding schools designed to erase Indigenous culture and demand accountability for this historical injustice.

Forced into Federal Boarding Schools as Children, Native Americans Confront the Past

Fighting addiction on Pine Ridge reservation (2017)

Fighting addiction on Pine Ridge reservation

Over 4 million cans of beer are sold annually in White Clay, Nebraska, primarily to members of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe living on the Pine Ridge reservation.

Fighting addiction on Pine Ridge reservation

Students Led a 1960s Free Speech Movement. Colleges Are Grappling With Its Legacy. (2025)

Students Led a 1960s Free Speech Movement. Colleges Are Grappling With Its Legacy.

In the 1960s, student activism at universities established free expression rights that are now being challenged by contemporary legal and political pressures.

Students Led a 1960s Free Speech Movement. Colleges Are Grappling With Its Legacy.

In the Long Fight to Protect Native American Families, a Law Stands Guard (2023)

In the Long Fight to Protect Native American Families, a Law Stands Guard

A recent Supreme Court ruling affirms the rights of Native American families and tribes, prioritizing them in adoption and foster care placements.

In the Long Fight to Protect Native American Families, a Law Stands Guard

Unspoken: America's Native American Boarding Schools (2023)

Unspoken: America's Native American Boarding Schools

More than 15,000 Native American children attended boarding schools designed to erase their culture and language during the assimilation era in the United States.

Unspoken: America's Native American Boarding Schools

The Boarding Schools which Stamped out Native American Culture (2025)

The Boarding Schools which Stamped out Native American Culture

Over 360 boarding schools were established in the United States to forcibly assimilate Native American children and erase their cultures.

The Boarding Schools which Stamped out Native American Culture

The U.S.- Dakota Conflict: The Past Is Alive Within Us (2021)

The U.S.- Dakota Conflict: The Past Is Alive Within Us

In November 1862, 1,700 noncombatant Dakota, primarily women, children, and elders, were forcibly marched 150 miles to a concentration camp below Fort Snelling.

The U.S.- Dakota Conflict: The Past Is Alive Within Us

2019 Genealogy Fair session 5: Discovering and Researching Bureau of Indian Affairs School Records (2019)

2019 Genealogy Fair session 5: Discovering and Researching Bureau of Indian Affairs School Records

Bureau of Indian Affairs school records, spanning from the mid-19th century, provide insights into the academic and personal lives of American Indian students.

2019 Genealogy Fair session 5: Discovering and Researching Bureau of Indian Affairs School Records

Chiefs | Season 1 | Episode 1 | Sitting Bull: Part 1 | Arthur Holden (2024)

Chiefs | Season 1 | Episode 1 | Sitting Bull: Part 1 | Arthur Holden

Sitting Bull, a prominent leader of the Lakota Sioux, is examined alongside the broader narrative of First Nations leaders and their impact on North American history.

Chiefs | Season 1 | Episode 1 | Sitting Bull: Part 1 | Arthur Holden

Explore Founders

Browse more like this

The Boarding Schools which Stamped out Native American Culture (2025)

The Boarding Schools which Stamped out Native American Culture

Over 360 boarding schools were established in the United States to forcibly assimilate Native American children and erase their cultures.

The Boarding Schools which Stamped out Native American Culture

No digital watch option in your country

Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities (2017)

Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities

2017•1h25m•★8.1TMDB

Over 150 years, Black colleges and universities have shaped leaders and supported the education of African Americans in the United States.

Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities

Pine Ridge (2013)

Pine Ridge

2013•1h16m•★9.0TMDB

Nineteen-year-old Bert finds solace in the shade of a tree in Yo Park during the summer at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

The Ride (2018)

The Ride

2018•1h31m•★8.5TMDB

A 300-mile route through South Dakota is retraced by young Lakota during the annual Chief Big Foot Memorial Ride, honoring the 350 Lakota killed at Wounded Knee.

Young Lakota (2013)

Young Lakota

2013•1h23m•★8.0TMDB

Three young people from South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation confront significant challenges in their daily lives.

No More Smoke Signals (2009)

No More Smoke Signals

2009•1h30m•★4.0TMDB

Kili Radio serves as the 'Voice of the Lakota Nation' on one of America's poorest reservations in South Dakota.

No More Smoke Signals

Standing Silent Nation (2007)

Standing Silent Nation

85% of the Pine Ridge Reservation's population faces unemployment, prompting Alex White Plume to plant industrial hemp in search of economic opportunity.

Standing Silent Nation

Native Ball: Legacy of a Trailblazer (2023)

Native Ball: Legacy of a Trailblazer

In 1992, only one Native American high school girl earned a full-ride Division I basketball scholarship: Malia Kipp from the Blackfeet Nation.

Native Ball: Legacy of a Trailblazer

Frontier University Dreams (2005)

Frontier University Dreams

In 1869, pioneers in Nebraska faced the challenge of establishing a university without guidebooks or road maps, relying solely on hopes and dreams.

Frontier University Dreams

The Blueprint: The Story of Adventist Education (2014)

The Blueprint: The Story of Adventist Education

A riverboat once taught newly-freed slaves, while modern classrooms now operate in the Bronx and on an Indian reservation in Arizona.

The Blueprint: The Story of Adventist Education

Browse more by Scott Faris

View all films →

Impossible Town (2023)

Impossible Town

2023

I Am Somebody (2023)

I Am Somebody

2023

Appalheads (2025)

Appalheads

2025

Into the Circle (2022)

Into the Circle

2022

Is this your film?

If you made this film or hold the rights to it, we'd like to talk. We can license it and pay you a share of what it earns.

License it with us →