Leya Hale

Leya Hale is a 2025 Bush Fellow and documentary filmmaker from the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota and Diné Nations. Based in Minnesota, she is a multiple regional Emmy award-winning producer for Twin Cities PBS, where her work elevates Indigenous lifeways and addresses pressing social issues. She is best known for her nationally broadcast films The People’s Protectors and Bring Her Home, both distributed by PBS. Her most recent documentary, The Electric Indian, won the Dog Iron Award for Best American Indian Feature at the 2024 Will Rogers Motion Picture Festival and is being distributed nationally by American Public Television. A 2020 recipient of the Sundance Institute’s Merata Mita Fellowship for Indigenous Artists, Leya’s work has screened at festivals such as Big Sky and been featured by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Through powerful storytelling and cultural advocacy, she fosters deeper understanding and connection between Native and non-Native audiences alike.