NEVADA CITY, CA — On Sunday, June 28, the Nevada City Film Festival will host one of the most remarkable gatherings of Indigenous creative talent ever assembled in the Sierra Nevada foothills. First Light: Indigenous Film & Animation brings together five of the most accomplished and boundary-pushing Native American voices working in animation and film today for an intimate, free, and genuinely rare afternoon of conversation, inspiration, and community.
This is not a panel. It is a cohort, a gathering of artists who are actively shaping the future of Indigenous storytelling on screen, brought together to share their work, their process, and their vision with anyone curious enough to show up.
The afternoon begins at 2:00 PM at ‘Uba Seo: Nisenan Arts & Culture, 225 Broad Street, Nevada City, before moving to NCFF HQ at 110 Union Street. Admission is free, but space is limited to 40 participants. Advance registration is required.
THE COHORT
Leading the gathering is Joey Clift, a Los Angeles-based comedian, TV writer, director, and Peabody and Emmy-nominated producer who is an enrolled member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe. Joey has written for Spirit Rangers on Netflix, Molly of Denali on PBS, and Paw Patrol on Nickelodeon, and created Gone Native, a Webby Award-winning Comedy Central Digital series. His short films have screened at Just for Laughs and the Smithsonian Museum. His short POW! won Best Animated Short at NCFF in 2025.
Morgan Thompson is a Cherokee (Keetoowah/Old Settler) animator and the first and only Native American to win an Annie Award – the animation industry’s highest honor – for her student film The Fox & The Pigeon. She has worked as a storyboard artist on Storybots and Strawberry Shortcake, and is currently in production on Cartoon Saloon’s highly anticipated feature Kindred Spirits, one of the most talked-about animated films in development.
Quinne Larsen is a Chinook cartoonist, writer, and musician whose animation credits span The Mitchells vs. the Machines, We Bare Bears, Centaurworld, and The Ghost & Molly McGee. A CalArts graduate, Pixar trainee, and 2023–2024 Sundance Native Lab Fellow, Quinne’s animated short Field Recording premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Quinne is also writing and drawing an original graphic novel, Fool’s Gold, forthcoming from First Second.
Vera Starbard is a three-time Emmy-nominated writer, playwright, and editor who is Tlingit and Dena’ina (Alaska Native). Best known for her work on the Peabody Award-winning PBS Kids series Molly of Denali, Vera has earned Emmy nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Preschool Animated Series in both 2022 and 2023. She has also written for ABC’s Alaska Daily and Disney Junior’s SuperKitties, and is a former playwright in residence at Perseverance Theatre through the Mellon Foundation National Playwright Residency Program.
Nicolette Ray is an Acoma Pueblo storyboard artist and illustrator whose credits include five seasons of Puppy Dog Pals for Disney Junior, Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, and Netflix’s Spirit Rangers. She is currently storyboarding an animated short film about California Indians, Even the Ocean Spit Him Out, and contributed illustration work to the Ojibwe video game Reclaim!
WHY THIS MATTERS
Together, these five artists represent an extraordinary concentration of talent and an even more extraordinary willingness to share it. Their combined credits touch nearly every major platform in animation: Netflix, PBS, Disney, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Sony Pictures Animation, and Cartoon Saloon. Their work has been recognized at Sundance, the Emmys, the Annie Awards, the Peabody Awards, and the Webby Awards.
And yet what makes First Light genuinely special is not the résumés in the room. It’s the conversation those résumés make possible.
“This is the kind of gathering that simply does not happen in small towns,” said Jesse Locks, Executive Director of the Nevada City Film Festival. “These are working artists at the top of their field – people whose work millions of children watch every week – sitting down in Nevada City to talk about storytelling, craft, representation, and what it means to build a creative life. Whether you want to work in animation, write stories, understand the creative economy, or simply learn from people doing extraordinary work, this afternoon is for you.”
Who: 26th Annual Nevada City Film Festival
What: First Light: Indigenous Film & Animation – Creative Cohort
When: June 28, 2026, 2pm
Where: Beginning at ‘Uba Seo: Nisenan Arts & Culture, 225 Broad Street, Nevada City, then moving to NCFF HQ, 110 Union Street, Nevada City
Tickets: Free, Limited to 40, advance registration required
Register: nevadacityfilmfestival2026.eventive.org
CREATIVE COHORTS AT NEVADA CITY FILM FESTIVAL
First Light is one of three Creative Cohorts NCFF is hosting this year, each free and open to the public:
Building Thriving Creative Communities — Saturday, June 27 • Noon Producer and advocate Karin Chien leads a conversation with Griff Williams (Gallery 16), Erin Washington (SoulCenter), and Tyler Knohl and Brynne Norquist (HIIKE) on what it takes to build lasting creative ecosystems across galleries, theaters, festivals, and digital platforms.
What Animation Teaches Us — Saturday, June 27 • 3:00 PM Animator and filmmaker Geoff Marslett leads Noel Wells (Master of None), Ri Crawford (I’m a Virgo, Sorry to Bother You), and Emmy-winning creative director Michaela Olsen in a conversation about what animation reveals about creative resilience, problem-solving, and holding a vision loosely.
ABOUT THE NEVADA CITY FILM FESTIVAL Since 2001, the Nevada City Film Festival has brought top independent film, music, and comedy to the historic Sierra Nevada foothills. Named one of the Top 50 Film Festivals in the World by Moviemaker Magazine six times, including 2026, and ranked #9 in the USA by USA Today’s 10Best, NCFF is widely known as the “Sundance of the Sierra.” The 26th Annual Nevada City Film Festival runs June 26–28, 2026 at the historic Nevada Theatre, 401 Broad Street, Nevada City, California.