Indigenous Films
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- DirectorKent MackenzieStarsYvonne WilliamsHomer NishTom ReynoldsFollows a family of Native Americans living in the City of Angels.
- DirectorAmanda KernellStarsMaj-Doris RimpiOlle SarriÁnne Biret SombyA reindeer-breeding Sámi girl who is exposed to the racism of the 1930's at her boarding school, starts dreaming of another life. But to achieve it, she has to become someone else and break all ties with her family and culture.
- DirectorNiki CaroStarsKeisha Castle-HughesRawiri ParateneVicky HaughtonA contemporary story of love, rejection and triumph as a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.
- DirectorChloé ZhaoStarsJohn ReddyJashaun St. JohnIrene BedardWith an older brother in jail and living with their single mother on Pine Ridge Reservation, Johnny and his sister Jashuan's lives develop new challenges when their absentee cowboy father suddenly dies. The loss prompts Johnny to strike out for Los Angeles, but would mean leaving behind his beloved sister.
- DirectorTaika WaititiStarsSam NeillJulian DennisonRima Te WiataA national manhunt is ordered for a rebellious kid and his foster uncle who go missing in the wild New Zealand bush.
- DirectorJonathan WacksStarsGary FarmerA MartinezJoanelle RomeroTwo Northern Cheyenne men take a road trip from Montana to New Mexico to bail out the sister of one of them who has been framed and arrested in Santa Fe. On the way, they begin to reconnect to their spiritual heritage.
- DirectorSydney FreelandStarsAshleigh MurrayRachel CrowLance GrayAfter their mother ends up in jail, two sisters turn to train robbery in order to support their family.
- DirectorSilas HagertyStarsJim MillerIn the spring of 2005 Jim Miller a native spiritual leader and VietNam veteran found himself in a dream riding on horseback across the great plains of south Dakota just before he awoke he arrived at a riverbank in Minnesota and saw 38 of his Dakota ancestry.
- DirectorPeter BaxterPeter SpirerThe documentary follows The Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team on the road as they compete in the 2015 World Box Lacrosse Championships. For the first time ever, the Championship Games were held on an Indian Reservation, in Onondaga in upstate New York, the Capitol of the Iroquois Confederacy.
- DirectorCatherine BainbridgeAlfonso MaioranaStarsGeorge ClintonRobbie RobertsonGary GiddinsA documentary about the role of Native Americans in popular music history.
- DirectorSydney FreelandStarsJeremiah BitsuiCarmen MooreMorningstar AngelineThree young Native Americans - an adopted Christian girl, a rebellious father-to-be, and a promiscuous transsexual - strive to escape the hardships of life on an Indian reservation.
- DirectorTaylor SheridanStarsElizabeth OlsenJeremy RennerGraham GreeneA wildlife officer, who is haunted by a tragedy that happened because of him, teams up with an FBI agent in solving a murder of a young woman on a Wyoming Native American reservation and hopes to get redemption from his past regrets.
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsEverlyn SampiTianna SansburyKenneth BranaghIn 1931, three half-white, half-Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their houses to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a journey across the Outback.
- DirectorChris EyreStarsAdam BeachEvan AdamsIrene BedardArnold rescued Thomas from a fire when he was a child. Thomas thinks of Arnold as a hero, while Arnold's son Victor resents his father's alcoholism, violence and abandonment of his family.
- DirectorBruce McDonaldStarsRyan Rajendra BlackAdam BeachJennifer PodemskiA story of life on a First Nations reserve in Ontario: Silas and Frank are trying to get into college to train to be mechanics but they find themselves having to deal with girls, family - and murder.
- DirectorYves SimoneauStarsAidan QuinnAdam BeachAugust SchellenbergA historic chronicle based on the book by Dee Brown explains how Native Americans were displaced as the United States expanded west.
- DirectorThomas BezuchaStarsArye GrossEric SchweigTim DeKayBig Eden is a small, fictional northwestern Montana town.
- DirectorSterlin HarjoStarsWes AllenJeri ArredondoLaura BaileyAfter his father's untimely suicide, Cufe leaves his home in a Native American reservation in search of a more fulfilling life.
- DirectorMichael AptedStarsRobert RedfordNorman ZigrossiRobert SikmaThis film describes the events surrounding a 1975 shootout at the Pine Ridge reservation in S. Dakota where two FBI agents were killed.
- DirectorFrank PiersonStarsCharles AbourezkDave Bald EagleLawrence BayneMary Crow Dog, daughter of a desperately poor Indian family in South Dakota, is swept up in the protests of the 1960s and becomes sensitized to the injustices that society inflicts on her people. She aids the Lakota in their struggle for their rights: a struggle that culminates in an armed standoff with US government forces at the site of an 1890 massacre.
- DirectorChristopher McLeodTells the story of three indigenous communities and the lands they struggle to protect: the Lakota of the Great Plains, the Hopi of the Four Corners area, and the Winnemem Wintu of northern California.
- DirectorSherman AlexieStarsEvan AdamsMichelle St. JohnGene TagabanSeymour Polatkin is a successful, gay Native American poet from Spokane who confronts his past when he returns to his childhood home on the reservation to attend the funeral of a dear friend.
- DirectorChloé ZhaoStarsBrady JandreauMooneyTim JandreauAfter suffering a near fatal head injury, a young cowboy undertakes a search for new identity and what it means to be a man in the heartland of America.
- DirectorJennifer Wynne FarmerValerie Red-HorseStarsValerie Red-HorseYvonne RussoIrene BedardThree Native American sisters (Red-Horse, Bedard, Guerrero) decide to try to sell a line of cosmetics they call Naturally Native, based on old tribal remedies, only to have to fight an uphill battle with racist business people. The film is actually Red-Horse's comment on her fight with the movie industry to get her films made and this film is the first to be totally financed by an Indian tribe, Connecticut's Mashantucket tribe.
- DirectorStuart MargolinStarsGraham GreeneTom JacksonSheila TouseyWhen photographer Will returns home for his mother's funeral he gets more than he bargained for from a strange cast of characters on the reservation.
- DirectorPeter BrattStarsAlfre WoodardJesse BorregoSalma HayekThree muralists (one Chicano, one Black, one American Indian) and the socially-maladjusted cousin of the Chicano muralist set off on a road trip with the intent of painting their images on the White House. Along the way they meet a mysterious Black woman. Together, these four men and one woman encounter racism, sexism, internal conflicts, and finally redemption as they discover their common humanity and their internal ability to conquer the societal ills that effect them all.
- DirectorCarol DalrympleStarsLaine ThomThe tribes we now know as the Goshutes came from the heart of the Great Basin, a vast and arid expanse. Hear in their own words how the Goshutes navigate crises past, present, and future.
- DirectorMichael LinnStarsTonantzin CarmeloCarla-RaeMichael SpearsA Native American attorney prosecuting a Lakota teen in a controversial murder trial, returns to the reservation to say goodbye to her dying father. After the teen is killed, she hears ghostly voices and sees strange visions.
- DirectorArthur PennStarsDustin HoffmanFaye DunawayChief Dan GeorgeJack Crabb, looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Native Americans and fighting with General Custer.
- DirectorSterlin HarjoStarsBebe HarjoGabriel PelayoFrederick SchroederFrankie is dying. Irene hasn't forgiven him. And they are racing against time to find their way home. Frankie needs help and Irene is the one he turns to. He must go home one last time. And, like so many times before, Irene is extending herself beyond her common sense. The two set out on a journey that becomes more than getting home; confronting the past, love, understanding, and self discovery. Barking Water is a tale of great love that looks at what brings us all together. It's a tale of home...and what it takes to get there.
- DirectorGeorge McCowanDaryl DukeStarsJan-Michael VincentMarilyn HassettChief Dan GeorgeThe Westernized grandson of a shaman returns to the wilderness to learn more about his Native American heritage. When he encounters powerful evil spirits, he enlists the aid of his lover and a local chief to stop the spirits.
- StarsWes StudiAdam BeachAlex RiceA veteran cop returns to his childhood Navajo reservation, where his urban investigation methods sometimes clash with his partner's traditional ones.
- DirectorChris BillingOn June 27, 1978, a 44-car freight train struck and killed two Crow Indian brothers near the quaint town of Little Falls, NY. The day before, Bobby, 13, and Tyler, 11, had disappeared. They had run away from the white, Baptist family that seven years earlier had adopted them out of a troubled home on the Crow reservation in Montana. Their new home, a vast 19th century Victorian castle, seemed idyllic. But the boys had discovered a dark secret. They were killed as they tried to return to the reservation to get help. In the documentary LOST SPARROW, filmmaker Chris Billing has embarked on a quest to find out what happened to his adoptive brothers, and to confront a painful family history.
- DirectorLee TamahoriStarsRena OwenTemuera MorrisonMamaengaroa Kerr-BellA family descended from Maori warriors is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts.
- DirectorBenoit PilonStarsNatar UngalaaqÉveline GélinasPaul-André BrasseurIn 1952, an Inuit hunter named Tivii with tuberculosis leaves his northern home and family to go recuperate at a sanatorium in Quebec City. Uprooted, far from his loved ones, unable to speak French and faced with a completely alien world, he becomes despondent. When he refuses to eat and expresses a wish to die, his nurse, Carole, comes to the realization that Tivii's illness is not the most serious threat to his well-being. She arranges to have a young orphan, Kaki, transferred to the institution. The boy is also sick, but has experience with both worlds and speaks both languages. By sharing his culture with Kaki and opening it up to others, Tivii rediscovers his pride and energy. Ultimately he also rediscovers hope through a plan to adopt Kaki, bring him home and make him part of his family.
- DirectorNorman CohnZacharias KunukStarsPakak InnuksukLeah AngutimarikNeeve IrngautA portrayal of the lives of the last great Inuit shaman, Avva, and his beautiful and headstrong daughter, Apak. Based on the journals of 1920s Danish ethnographer Knud Rasmussen.
- DirectorBruce McDonaldStarsRyan Rajendra BlackAdam BeachJennifer PodemskiA story of life on a First Nations reserve in Ontario: Silas and Frank are trying to get into college to train to be mechanics but they find themselves having to deal with girls, family - and murder.
- DirectorRicky SchroderStarsEddie SpearsRussell MeansJulia JonesBlack Cloud, is an inspirational story about a young Navajo, Native American boxer, who overcomes personal challenges as he comes to terms with his heritage, while fighting his way for a spot on the US Olympic boxing team.
- DirectorAlanis ObomsawinStarsJack BurningHerbie BarnesAlanis ObomsawinA film account about the military 1990 siege of a Native American reserve near Oka, Quebec, Canada and its causes.
- DirectorRolf de HeerPeter DjigirrStarsCrusoe KurddalJamie GulpililRichard BirrinbirrinIn Australia's Northern Territory, a man tells us a story of his people and his land. It's about an older man, Minygululu, who has three wives and realizes that his younger brother Dayindi may try to steal away the youngest wife.
- DirectorIan MuneStarsTemuera MorrisonRena OwenClint ErueraJake Muss' oldest son is killed in a gang fight and the younger son wants revenge, but Jake doesn't want to lose his other son to violence as well.
- DirectorIvan SenStarsDannielle HallDamian PittJenna Lee ConnorsLena is the daughter of an Aboriginal mother and Irish father and Vaughn is a Murri boy doing time in a minimum security prison in North West NSW. Dramatic events throw them together on a journey with no money and no transport.
- DirectorNeil DiamondCatherine BainbridgeJeremiah HayesStarsAdam BeachChris EyreRussell MeansThe history of the depiction of Native Americans in Hollywood films.
- DirectorWarwick ThorntonStarsRowan McNamaraMarissa GibsonMitjili Napanangka GibsonA glue-sniffing boy and his girlfriend escape the government-controlled no-hope Aboriginal community they live in and go to the city, Alice Springs, looking for a better life.
- DirectorDon FeatherstoneStarsMichelle TorresBob MazaKevin SmithRole reversal study of the historically inaccurate "plight" of Australian Aborigines in modern Anglo-Saxon society. Indigenous "whities" [sic] are being persecuted by racist black people who invaded the fictitious country of BabaKiueria. Politically incorrect and inconvenient facts about infant mortality rates are ignored by a "reporter" who lives with a typical white family in a white "ghetto" for six months.
- DirectorKate MontgomeryStarsTimothy VahleSam VlahosMariana ToscaDuring the holidays at a ski resort in Utah run by a Native American tribe, the overworked manager and a widowed woman from the big city overcome mistaken identities and intrusive guests in their pursuit of romance.
- DirectorTravis Holt HamiltonStarsDeshava ApacheeDonavon G. BarneyEthel BegayRaised in the suburbs of Phoenix, a Navajo college student must choose between a vacation in Rome or moving to the reservation to care for her ailing grandmother.
- DirectorTravis Holt HamiltonStarsErnest Tsosie IIIJames BilagodyVincent CraigIn the small town of Blue Gap, Arizona on the Navajo Reservation there lives three brothers known as James (Ernest David Tsosie, III), Jessie (Vincent Craig), and Jodie (James Bilagody). These three brothers combine their talents to form the greatest band, (because it's the only one), Blue Gap has ever known! The youngest of the three, James, a full time custodian at the local school, has the responsibility of being the band's manager. James got the job as manager because he can't play any instruments and/or sing and they didn't have any other choices. The other two brothers, Jessie and Jodie, are the semi talented driving force behind the struggling band that wants to make it big known as the 'Blue Gap Boy'z' from the rez. By chance, these brothers hear about an exciting opportunity to audition for a German music producer named Rolf May (Horst Aschmann) who will be in Phoenix, Arizona for a few days. Rolf has come to the United States southwest to find and promote a Native American band in Europe. The comedy picks up speed as the brothers journey from their little town of relatives to the big city of Phoenix. The three brothers get caught up in the outrageous hype so much that they find themselves committing to do whatever it takes to win this competition. The adventure takes another twist as brothers are persuaded to 'sell out' with the hope to gain the advantage over the competition and win the covenanted trip to Europe!