Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On

Experience the story of the Oscar-winning Indigenous artist from her rise to prominence in New York’s Greenwich Village folk music scene through her six-decade groundbreaking career as a singer-songwriter, social activist, educator and artist.

When Jack Nitzsche became stumped while scoring the film "An Officer and a Gentleman," he turned to his friend Buffy Sainte-Marie for help. Buffy played him the melody for her song "Up Where We Belong," which took on "a life of its own." The iconic song eventually went on to win several major awards, including the award for Best Original Song at the 55th Academy Awards in 1983.

The iconic anti-war song "Universal Soldier" was written with the question on Buffy Sainte-Marie's mind: "Who's responsible for war?" In Sainte-Marie's frank answer, we all have an individual responsibility.

When Buffy Sainte-Marie was asked to play a lead role in the TV series "The Virginian," she also insisted that all of the Indigenous parts be played by Indigenous people—sparking a revolutionary conversation on representation that we are still having today.

"I always wanna be offering people stuff that they won't get somewhere else," says Sainte-Marie of the song "Until It's Time For You To Go," written from a woman's perspective allowing her lover to leave. Writer Andrea Warner calls the song "the actual first feminist anthem."