Storyteller with a video camera

Director Gwendolen Cates shows her new documentary

By Anahi Rodriguez | Manor Ink

Since old times, there have been many legal and religious decrees that are discriminatory and unfair. Some are considered human rights violations. Many of these laws and decrees have not been spoken about nor dealt with. That is not the case for the Doctrine Of Discovery.

The Doctrine of Discovery is a 15th-century religious and legal framework that justified European colonial conquest. “The Doctrine,” a documentary film by Gwendolen Cates, follows a group of Indigenous teenagers from Minneapolis-St. Paul who travel to Rome to meet with Vatican officials and advocate for the repudiation of the Doctrine. “The Doctrine” tells their story.

Manor Ink was invited to a recent screening of “The Doctrine” at the Callicoon Theater. Afterwards, this reporter had the opportunity to speak with Cates, who filmed, edited and produced the film.

Cates didn’t begin her career with filmmaking. She originally was a photographer. She mainly photographed people, taking portraits of well-known people for magazines. Though she had never gone to film school, one day decided to buy a vintage video camera. She was invited to join the Wounded Knee Memorial Ride, and that is when she used the camera to film events for the first time. “I just kind of fell in love with the storytelling that you can do with filmmaking, and also the way that you collaborate with the people you’re working with to tell these stories – their stories,” she said.

Cates then got an invitation to do a documentary film after writing her first book of photos and text called Indian Country. She then went on to make other films, including “Water Flowing Together,” “The Good Mind” and now “The Doctrine.”

Cates began learning about the Doctrine of Discovery in 2012. She interviewed Robert Miller, one of the top scholars on both Indian law and the Doctrine, for her film “The Good Mind.” Afterward, Miller approached her and asked if she would make a documentary about the Doctrine of Discovery. She readily agreed.

The film took from three to five years to make, due to the COVID pandemic and waiting for funding and grants to come in. While working on the film, Cates met the Indigenous teen group that became the subject of the documentary through Mitch Walking Elk on Facebook. She saw that Walking Elk had founded a youth group, the Indigenous Youth Ceremonial Mentoring Society, and that the teens wanted to get a meeting at the Vatican to challenge the Doctrine.

Cates and Miller offered to involve the young people in the film. They wanted an inside perspective from the people who knew all about it. Their visit got results.

“While the Vatican did issue a statement about it, they haven’t seriously dealt with the issue. But it was a step in the right direction,” said Cates.

“The Doctrine” is screening in many other theaters this year. For a list of them, visit thedoctrinemovie.com. Go see the film while you can! This documentary is an inspiration for those who seek justice, even if it’s just making themselves heard. If we don’t fight for our rights, who will?