Alana Minkler is a Navajo and Jewish documentary filmmaking student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. Her passion lies in vérité and reflexive storytelling with a focus on Indigenous and environmental issues.

Alana’s background is in print journalism as a staff writer for the Press Democrat in Santa Rosa where she covered education and public safety for three years. She has made the shift to visual storytelling in pursuit of more in-depth reporting and creative expression. She holds an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Arizona.

Her first fully-vérité project, SUNRISE, followed 16-year old Salvador “Bug” Pedroza on his journey to keep Pomo culture alive through dance on Alcatraz Island on Indigenous People’s Day. She then co-directed a profile, NEEDA, about Anita Miralle “Needa Bee,” a homeless advocate who has been preparing West Oakland’s unhoused communities to legally fight against the city’s encampment sweeps.

Her latest work includes The Whirling Log, Alana’s personal journey discovering what an ancient Navajo symbol closely resembling the swastika means for her as a half Navajo, half Jewish person. She also co-directed What Remains, an emotion-driven vérité film that explores an Altadena family’s grief after their multi-generational home burned down in the Eaton Fire.

Now, Alana is working on her thesis, a 25-minute film about the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act.