Amanda Blackhorse in Phoenix, AZ

Producer Kevin Blackistone and Director Ben West with Yocha Dehe at California Native American Day in Sacramento, CA

Arizona to Rally Against Native Mascots in Phoenix, AZ

Amy West, and Richard West in Los Angeles, CA

Amanda Blackhorse and Prof. James Riding In in Phoenix, AZ

Marshall McKay in Los Angeles, CA

Bronson Koenig, and Director Ben West in Washington, DC

Directors Ben West and Aviva Kempner at the Inaugural Indigenous Filmmakers Lounge at Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT

Director Ben West at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC

Arizona to Rally Against Native Mascots in Phoenix, AZ

Prof. James Riding In in Phoenix, AZ

Kevin Gover and Directors Ben West and Aviva Kempner at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC

Congresswoman Debra Haaland in Washington, DC

Duke Harjo with Producer Sam Bardley in Washington, DC

Mary Kathryn-Nagle with Director Aviva Kempner and Producer Kevin Blackistone in Washington, DC

Congressman Jamie Raskin with Director Aviva Kempner in Washington, DC

Your Support Counts

The Ciesla Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Show your support for Imagining the Indian by sending a contribution today. As a donor, you will be listed on the film’s website. Your contribution is tax-deductible to the full extent permitted by law.

Thank you!

Donate via PayPal (2.9% fee)

Donate via Check

Partnership Level

Interested in supporting at a partnership level? Please contact The Ciesla Foundation directly at 202.244.1347 or imagining.cieslafdn@gmail.com to discuss partnership opportunities.

Contributors of $10,000 or more will be listed in the film credits.

Aviva Kempner

Director | Producer

A Washington, D.C.-based filmmaker, creates successful and critically acclaimed documentaries about under-known Jewish heroes and social justice. In 2019, she premiered her fifth commercially-released film, The Spy Behind Home Plate. Her other films include Rosenwald, a documentary about how Chicago businessman and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald partnered with Booker T. Washington in establishing over 5,000 schools for African Americans in the Jim Crow South, which she dedicated to the Black Lives Matter movement; Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, about Gertrude Berg, who created the first television sitcom; and the Emmy-nominated and Peabody-awarded The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, about the Hall of Famer who faced anti-Semitism during the ’30s. Both Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, and Hank Greenberg grossed over a million dollars at the box office and are highly ranked, along with Rosenwald, on Rotten Tomatoes. She also produced the award-winning documentary Partisans of Vilna, about Jews fighting the Nazis.

Kempner also co-wrote and is co-producing the dramatic script Casuse with fellow Imagining the Indian director and producer Ben West. The film is about the Navajo activist Larry Casuse, who Kempner knew while a VISTA volunteer in New Mexico in the early ’70s. While attending the Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C., Kempner interned at the Office of the Solicitor at the Department of Interior’s Indian Affairs. Upon graduation, she worked at the National Tribal Chairman’s Association and the National Conference of American Indians.

Kempner is an activist and advocate for statehood for Washington, D.C.as a board member of DC Vote.

Amanda Blackhorse in Phoenix, AZ

Producer Kevin Blackistone and Director Ben West with Yocha Dehe at California Native American Day in Sacramento, CA

Arizona to Rally Against Native Mascots in Phoenix, AZ

Amy West, and Richard West in Los Angeles, CA

Amanda Blackhorse and Prof. James Riding In in Phoenix, AZ

Marshall McKay in Los Angeles, CA

Bronson Koenig, and Director Ben West in Washington, DC

Directors Ben West and Aviva Kempner at the Inaugural Indigenous Filmmakers Lounge at Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT

Director Ben West at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC

Arizona to Rally Against Native Mascots in Phoenix, AZ

Prof. James Riding In in Phoenix, AZ

Kevin Gover and Directors Ben West and Aviva Kempner at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC

Congresswoman Debra Haaland in Washington, DC

Duke Harjo with Producer Sam Bardley in Washington, DC

Mary Kathryn-Nagle with Director Aviva Kempner and Producer Kevin Blackistone in Washington, DC

Congressman Jamie Raskin with Director Aviva Kempner in Washington, DC

Photo Gallery

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Your Support Counts

Partnership Level

Aviva Kempner

Director | Producer