With the Buffalo International Film Festival in full swing for its 20th anniversary, they’re honoring a Lafayette High School graduate whose work in film and TV continues to leave an impact on Indigenous culture in media. Gary Farmer is set to receive their Lifetime Achievement Award Saturday night, for a life and career that he said has been a journey not just in front of the camera, but breaking down barriers.
Gary Farmer hails from Six Nations of the Grand River, an Indigenous nation in Southern Ontario. But Farmer spent many of his formative years in Buffalo.
"The West Side was pretty ganged up in my childhood, so it was it was fairly a rough period," reminisced Farmer. "But it was an interesting place to grow up. I learned a lot, and I hold it all very precious."
Farmer’s career started in theater in the 1970s. In the early-to-mid 1980s he transitioned into TV and film, mainly in minor roles. That all changed in 1988’s Powwow Highway, where he starred alongside A. Martinez and Amanda Wyss. Farmer’s cousin, eventual Oscar nominee Graham Greene, also appeared in the movie. But production wasn’t without tensions.
"I had to fight tooth and nail for that film against, I mean it was George Harrison who produced it, the Beatle, but he wasn't there. He had a Wall Street broker kind of producing it," Farmer said. "And he tried to cut every all the special things that were close to Indigenous peoples' storytelling, he tried to manipulate it. I had to really stand in my trailer and say, 'Look, I'm not shooting this film no more.' I've had to do that my whole life."
The film went on to win the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival, and in 2024 it was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
While he enjoys the successes of projects like Powwow Highway, Smoke Signals and Reservation Dogs, Farmer believes Indigenous media in the U.S. needs to take the next step into production and distribution.
"I think it's valuable for Americans in general or population at large to witness the stories that we are offering, both in cinema and television," he said. "And to have any access now is pretty special. Of course, I fought hard for the Aboriginal People's Television Network. I'm the one that won the license with the [Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission]. I wish we had a television network here in the United States."
The Buffalo International Film Festival will award Farmer his Lifetime Achievement Award Saturday night, October 10 at North Park Theatre. The festival runs through Thursday.
