MORE THAN WATER
About the film
Meet The Team
Cindi Finneran is an American documentary filmmaker, photographer, and multimedia artist whose work is rooted in empathy, authenticity, and a deep respect for the communities she serves. With a background in photography and design, she brings a visually rich and emotionally intuitive approach to storytelling, particularly in underrepresented and rural spaces.
Her current feature documentary, More Than Water, follows a coalition of Native and non-Native Oklahomans working to stop the diversion of the Kiamichi River in Southeast Oklahoma. The film explores themes of environmental justice, Indigenous sovereignty, and community resilience.
Finneran began her film career producing experimental shorts and working behind the camera on local documentaries. In 2008, she founded Wigtower Productions, LLC, and directed her first independent feature documentary, Reading, Writing, Romance: Taming the Alpha Male, which explores the romance novel industry and its cultural impact.
In 2020, she served as a field producer for PBS’s American Portrait, capturing community-based stories across Oklahoma. Through film, Finneran is committed to preserving human connection and amplifying the voices of those most often overlooked.
Cynthia Finneran
Director
Leslie Halfmoon (Caddo/Delaware/Choctaw) is an award-winning writer, producer and media professional with over 20 years of experience in writing, film, video production, and storytelling. A Sundance Film Institute Fellow, she has worked with ABC/Disney and received numerous writing awards. As Media Specialist for the First Americans Museum's Curatorial Team (2008-2022), Leslie was instrumental in the conceptualization and development of FAM's award-winning opening exhibitions; Okla Homma Tribal Nations Gallery and Winiko: Life of an Object. As Media Specialist for the Curatorial Team, she conceptualized and then coordinated production for the thirty media pieces, including linear, interactive, immersive film and immersive audio projects, that live in the Okla Homma Tribal Nations Gallery, and Life of an Object Gallery. While she served as Producer for all the media pieces, she also served as Project Manager for nine of the pieces, including the two immersive theater films, Origins and Uprooted. She previously managed the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Tribal Heritage Project, producing the Veterans Tribute Series and Family Video series. Currently serving as Media and Marketing Manager for the Caddo Nation, Leslie continues her passion for community storytelling through television and digital media platforms. She holds a B.F.A. from the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Leslie Halfmoon
Producer
Julianna Brannum
Producer
Julianna Brannum (Producer & Director) is a documentary filmmaker based in Oklahoma. She served as Consulting Producer on The American Buffalo, directed by Ken Burns, and as Director and Producer of the short film Homecoming, a companion to Burns’ two part series, both coming to PBS in Fall 2023. She was Producer of the Independent Lens documentary, Conscience Point, airing nationally on PBS and premiering at DOC NYC in 2019 and served as Series Producer on the 2018 Emmy-nominated PBS series, Native America. In 2017, she produced Through the Repellent Fence, which screened at MoMA and SxSW and directed and produced the public television documentary LaDonna Harris: Indian 101 for which she won fellowships from the Sundance Institute/Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation/Tribeca Film Institute. She also produced and directed two short films, 45 Days in a Texas Jail and Deadly Jails, for PBS's Independent Lens, which highlighted criminal justice cases. She co-produced the feature documentary Wounded Knee for the PBS series We Shall Remain on American Experience, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Brannum made her directorial debut with The Creek Runs Red, which aired on Independent Lens in 2007. She has also produced programs for PBS Food, Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, HGTV, and Bravo.
Brannum graduated from the University of Oklahoma, where she received the 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award for the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a citizen of the Quahada band of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma.
FUNDING
