Return Studios
Bearing Witness to Our Time
Developing original media, documentary storytelling, educational content, and creative properties that document, preserve, and share the stories shaping Indian Country and the generations to come.
Where Storytelling is Sovereignty
We are the Native-led media company at the heart of the RETURN movement — a family of enterprises bound by the Walking in Two Worlds philosophy. Our work fuses ancestral wisdom with modern storytelling, creating films, podcasts, campaigns, and cultural events that speak to both Native communities and the global stage. Return Studios isn’t just producing content. It is building an ecosystem of storytelling, distribution, and community activation that ensures these voices are not only heard, but carried into history
The Studio Structure
Walking in Two Worlds Storyhouse
(A Return Studios imprint)
Our first production label under the Return Studios roof. This is where the flagship projects are born:
RETURN: A Witness of Our Time — A biweekly podcast with Mo Brings Plenty and James F. Jordan, exploring Native perspectives, the American West, and the enduring values of leadership, faith, family, craftsmanship, stewardship, conservation, and resilience.
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Circle of Seven — A documentary film series following the people, places, and traditions of Native communities and the American West, revealing stories of leadership, faith, family, craftsmanship, conservation, resilience, and the enduring spirit passed from one generation to the next.
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Distribution & Community Outreach Arm for RETURN STUDIOS. This is where content becomes movement: Podcasts, campaigns, and digital activations. Screenings, cultural gatherings, and festival circuits. Corporate, Tribal, and community engagement that ensures RETURN projects live both on screen and in ceremony.
Together, these entities allow us to produce, distribute, and activate with seamless alignment — ensuring sponsors receive both visibility and cultural capital.
BE THE FIRST TO HEAR—
RETURN: A Witness to Our Time featuring Mo Brings Plenty & James F. Jordan
Across our communities, people are carrying knowledge, facing pressure, and shaping what comes next. RETURN brings these voices forward—clearly, directly, and without interpretation from the outside.
Join the first listeners and hear the opening conversations as they are released.
A Record From Within
RETURN is a documentary podcast grounded in the realities of Tribal Nations today.
This is not analysis from the outside.
It is lived experience, spoken in real time.
For too long, stories from our communities have been filtered, reframed, or reduced. RETURN exists to hold space for what is real—without speaking over it, without simplifying it.
Across 575 federally recognized tribes and American Indian communities, there is no single story. There are many. RETURN brings those voices forward, on their own terms. These are communities shaped by tradition—by practices, beliefs, and ways of living carried forward over generations. Culture, in its broader sense, is often discussed from a distance. Tradition is lived. RETURN remains grounded in that distinction.
What is shared here is not abstract.
It is personal.
It is ongoing.
It matters now.
We are not waiting to be represented.
We are speaking for ourselves.
Voices Across Tribal Nations
RETURN: A Witness to Our Time, brings forward voices from across Indian Country—community members, leaders, and those working within American Indian health and the systems that shape it. Each conversation adds perspective. Together, they form a broader record.
Season One
Coming August
The first season follows conversations already unfolding across Tribal Nations.
Episodes will explore Native sovereignty, American Indian health, and the realities communities are navigating today—through the voices of those living them.
This is where the record begins.
Return will be available on all major platforms
RETURN is a documentary podcast produced by Return Studios, in partnership with Tribal Nations Health, focused on Native sovereignty, American Indian health, and lived realities across Tribal Nations in the United States.
We want to thank our Co-Presenting Sponsor, BRMS
Return Studios in partnership with Walking in Two Worlds Storyhouse presents:
Circle of Seven
Seven stories. Six films.
One living circle.
Circle of Seven is a documentary film series exploring the people, places, and enduring traditions of Native communities and the American West. Through intimate access and authentic storytelling, each film follows remarkable individuals and communities whose lives reflect leadership, stewardship, faith, family, craftsmanship, conservation, resilience, wellness, and the values that shape generations.
From Tribal Nations and ranches to rivers, forests, workshops, council chambers, and small towns, Circle of Seven documents the people preserving culture, caring for the land, strengthening their communities, and building a better future. Some stories will explore healthcare and wellness. Others will follow ranchers, craftsmen, conservationists, artists, veterans, entrepreneurs, and leaders whose work reminds us what endures.
Real people. Real places. Real stories.
Enduring films for generations to come.
The medicine wheel holds balance, memory, and spirit. The wagon wheel carries movement, expansion, and change.
Two circles shaped by different journeys — now meeting in a shared understanding that neither story stands complete on its own.
Between Mo Brings Plenty and James F. Jordan, those paths converge — honoring the past while shaping a future that draws from the best of both. A quiet reckoning. A unified direction. A way forward where Indian Country and the American West move together with purpose, dignity, and respect.
PARTNERSHIP
Partner with us to move the circle.
Circle of Seven is more than a documentary film series. It is an opportunity to help preserve important stories, elevate overlooked voices, and bring greater visibility to the people, places, and traditions shaping Native communities and the American West.
We're building a community of founding sponsors, Tribal enterprises, healthcare organizations, businesses, brands, foundations, and strategic partners who believe that authentic storytelling can inform, inspire, and create lasting value. Together, we can bring these films to audiences across the country while celebrating leadership, stewardship, faith, family, craftsmanship, conservation, resilience, and the enduring spirit of the communities they represent.
Whether you're looking to align your brand with meaningful storytelling, support original documentary filmmaking, engage new audiences, or invest in a project with lasting cultural significance, we'd welcome the opportunity to explore a partnership.
Join us in bringing these stories to life—and become part of a documentary series designed to endure for generations.
THE NEED
The disparity is real—and preventable.
80 years
The average white South Dakotan lives to about 80.
58 years
The average American Indian in South Dakota lives to about 58.
22 year gap
That is a 22-year life expectancy gap.
A Story That Must Be Told
In South Dakota, that difference is not an abstraction. It is a human measure of underinvestment, unequal access, and preventable loss. Circle of Seven puts faces, voices, and lived experience around the numbers—and shows that with timely care, trusted practitioners, and consistent investment, things can be very different.
ONE LIVING CIRCLE
A Native Lens. An American Story. A Global Message.
Rooted in Native communities and the American West, Circle of Seven tells stories that reach far beyond geography. These films explore leadership, stewardship, resilience, faith, family, craftsmanship, conservation, wellness, and the enduring values that connect people across cultures and generations.
From Tribal Nations and working ranches to rivers, forests, reservation communities, and small towns, the series follows remarkable people whose lives reflect both the challenges and the promise of our time. While the stories begin in Indian Country and the American West, their lessons are universal—offering a deeper understanding of community, responsibility, self-determination, and what it means to care for one another and the places we call home.
Circle of Seven reminds us that some of the world's most important stories are found where tradition meets innovation, where people remain deeply connected to the land, and where enduring values continue to shape a better future for generations to come.
Seven stories. Six films. One living circle.
For Indian Country. For the Pioneers at heart. For the country. For the world.