The VA NetworkStories From The Space In Between
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tell your story
Your offering to the fire is more than just a story. It is a spark that carries light, a thread that weaves connection, a force that shifts the world in ways unseen. Every story given to this space becomes part of something greater, part of the vast and living network of knowledge, remembrance, and renewal.
This is your invitation to sit by the campfire where stories are not just told, but felt, where they ripple outward, igniting understanding, deepening relations, and honouring the wisdom of those who have carried them through time.
We invite Indigenous creatives to step forward, to take up space, to claim their place in the web of storytelling that has always belonged to them. Whether you are an elder carrying the knowledge of many lifetimes, a young artist finding your voice, or someone in between, this is a space built for you.
We welcome non-Indigenous allies into this space – not to take, but to listen. To learn. To unlearn. To support the storytellers who have carried the world’s oldest and most enduring knowledge systems. Whether you are within the screen industry or simply someone who understands the power of right story, this is an opportunity to engage in reciprocity. To amplify without distorting. To uplift without extracting. To become part of a system where storytelling is not a transaction, but a relationship.
Place Your Story on the Fire And Let It Move the World
Your story is not just yours to hold – it belongs to the land, to the people, to the web of relations that stretch across time. When you share it, you don’t just tell it – you set it in motion. Stories move like rivers, shaping the world as they flow. They do not sit still, they do not fade; they ripple outward, touching lives, shifting minds, igniting change.
The VA Network fire is tended with care, where right story finds its way home, and inspires all those who come into relation with it, to feel its warm, and change their lives. This is where stories become more than words and images. They become medicine. They become movement. They become a force that restores balance, reconnects us to land, and reminds us of who we are.
If your story carries truth, if your work moves with care, if you are ready to place your log on the fire – then now is the time. The world is waiting. The stories are calling. Let’s make sure they are carried the way they were meant to be.
Knowledge is fire – alive, relational, and meant to be shared across generations.
the stories that carry fire
Films
Short films that centre indigenous perspectives, knowledge systems, and ways of knowing.
Documentary works that honor the living connections between people and Country
Animation that brings traditional stories into contemporary visual language
Experimental films that challenge colonial frames and ways of seeing
Feature films that immerse audiences in Indigenous worldviews and narratives
Immersive VR experiences bringing new frontiers and experiences to audiences
Series
Voices
collections
The Impact of Your Submission
ripples through time and place
When you share your story with The VA Network, you are not simply uploading content to a platform. You are adding your voice to an ancient chorus, your flame to a fire that has burned since time immemorial. The impact of your submission extends far beyond views and likes. It creates ripples that touch hearts, shift perspectives, and help reweave the torn fabric of our collective understanding. Your story matters not because of metrics or algorithms but because it carries medicine that our world desperately needs.
preservation of knowledge
amplification of voice
connection across boundaries
transformation of understanding
healing wounds
inspiration for action
why submit your work to the va network
a call to the circle
In a media landscape dominated by extractive models and colonial perspectives, The VA Network stands apart as a space created by and for Indigenous storytellers. Here are the reasons why your work belongs in this circle.
The fire has been tended, and we invite you to add your flame, to take your place in the circle, to share the stories that only you can tell. The world needs your voice—not someday, but now. Not somewhere, but here.
knowledge weaving
Your Story Has a Home Here
Unlike mainstream platforms where Indigenous stories are often exoticized, misunderstood, or forced to conform to Western narrative structures, The VA Network provides a home where your work can breathe freely. Here, your story is understood on its own terms, valued for its cultural integrity, and received by an audience prepared to listen with open hearts and minds.
pattern recognition
You Join a Community, Not Just a Platform
When you submit to The VA Network, you become part of a living community of storytellers, knowledge keepers, and culture bearers. This is not a transactional relationship but a reciprocal one, where your contribution strengthens the whole and the community, in turn, supports your growth and creative journey. You are not alone in your work but connected to others walking similar paths.
Story Carrying
Your Work Reaches the Right Audiences
Your stories deserve to be seen by those who will truly value them. The VA Network connects your work with audiences who are actively seeking Indigenous perspectives, who approach these stories with respect and openness, who understand that they are receiving not just content but teachings. Here, your work is not algorithm-fodder but medicine for those who need it most.
Circle Holding
You Maintain Creative Control and Cultural Integrity
The VA Network respects your ownership of your stories and your right to determine how they are shared. Unlike many platforms that claim rights to your content or present it in ways that strip context and meaning, we are committed to honoring your creative vision and the cultural protocols that guide your work. Your story remains yours, always.
Circle Holding
You Contribute to a Larger Movement
By sharing your work through The VA Network, you add your voice to a growing chorus challenging dominant narratives and reclaiming Indigenous storytelling traditions. Your individual contribution becomes part of a collective movement to decolonize media, to assert Indigenous sovereignty in digital spaces, to create new pathways for ancient wisdom to flow into contemporary contexts.
Circle Holding
You Help Shape the Future of Indigenous Media
The VA Network is not a static platform but an evolving ecosystem. Your submissions help shape what this space becomes, informing how we grow and adapt to serve Indigenous storytellers and audiences. Your participation helps build a media future where Indigenous voices are not marginalized but centered, not tokenized but empowered.
This is not a call for content. It’s a call to participate in a story much larger than yourself.
When you submit your work to the VA Network, you are not just sharing a film, a voice, a photograph, a story – you are offering a spark to the fire. You are choosing to sit in circle, to be part of something living, something sacred.
Stories are more than words on a screen; they are the lifeblood of culture, the carriers of wisdom, the embers that ignite change.
Your story carries weight. It deserves to be heard, not as fleeting noise in an overcrowded space, but as something that matters, something that shifts the world. The VA Network connects your work to a global audience that doesn’t just watch but listens, feels, and acts. Here, your films, documentaries, and live storytelling find a home where they can move through time, weaving connection and igniting change.
We ask that you submit with intention, with care, and with respect for the responsibilities that come with sharing story. Every submission is considered not just for its quality, but for its relational integrity. How it honours land, people, spirit, and the web that connects them all.
As part of the One Fire Festival, we invite you to gather around a virtual campfire like no other. Our Campfire Sounds are more than just crackling embers and gentle winds; they are the harmonious rhythms of Indigenous artists’ worlds. These captivating audio landscapes are created by the artists themselves, who share their sacred fires burning on their ancestral lands. As you immerse yourself in these evocative sounds, you’ll be enveloped in the warmth of their stories and culture, forging a deep connection to the heart of Indigenous artistry. Join us for this unique fireside experience, where the flames dance to the beat of Indigenous wisdom, and the stories of their lands come alive
The VA Network acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country
throughout the world, & their connections to land, sea, & sky.
We pay our respects to Elders past & present, & extend that respect to all First Nations Peoples on whose land we live, connect, travel, create, & love.
We celebrate the diversity of all First Nations Peoples
& their stories reflected in their unique artistic practices.
Please join us in respecting the ongoing legacy of the first artists of this country, & all countries.
⏲ 1hr 15min
Environmentalism / Culture Change
Finding our way back to our role as custodians of creation.
At its core, The VA Network is about connections and celebrating the stories in the spaces in-between.
The VA Network is built on foundations of relation to one another, the more-than-human world, and
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