indigenous ritual and ceremony

His documentaries like 'Aguirre, the Wrath of God' and 'Fitzcarraldo' obsessively explore indigenous cultures and their spiritual relationships with nature and ritual.

His films frequently weave indigenous Mexican spirituality, ceremony, and ancestral trauma into narratives, most notably in 'Babel' and 'Birdman.'

As a Hopi filmmaker, he creates deeply personal works documenting Hopi ceremonies, oral traditions, and the sacred relationship between indigenous peoples and their land.