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- By Elyse Wild
This Native American Heritage Month, Native News Online is celebrating by sharing our favorite Native American actors, movies, TV shows, books, chefs, musicians, artists, and fashion designers.
Movies are the ultimate representation of what Native Americans do best: storytelling.
From stories that span modern Native life to history's reverberating impact on the U.S. trust and treaty obligations with tribal nations, Native filmmakers continue to make their mark on cinema.
Here are five Native American movies you should watch this Thanksgiving weekend.
Smoke Signals
Smoke Signals (1998)
When smash-hit Smoke Signals debuted in 1998, it was the first ever narrative feature film written, directed and produced by Native Americans. The groundbreaking film follows Viktor on a journey off the reservation to collect his recently dead father's ashes with his childhood friend and polar opposite, Thomas, along for the ride.
The movie that gave us "Hey Viktor!" brought stories about contemporary Native life to the mainstream and cemented its place in cinema as an instant classic, netting the Audience Awards at the Sundance Film Festival.
Frybread Face and Me
Frybread Face and Me (2023)
This coming-of-age story follows two cousins, one from the city and the other from the rez, as they spend the summer of 1990 on their Dine grandma's Navajo ranch. For Benny, who lives in San Diego, it's the first time immersed in Navajo culture. The summer is full of sheep herding, Navajo language, and a cast of eccentric aunties and uncles. Frybread Face and Me debuted on Netflix to critical acclaim and took home the Best Narrative Feature Award at the 2023 Urbanworld Film Festival.
Lakota Nation vs. United States
Lakota Nation vs The United States (2022)
Winner of the 2024 News and Documentary Emmy Awards for Best Documentary and Outstanding Direction, this stunning documentary dives into the Lakota people's fight to reclaim land that was taken from them in the 1876 Seizure of the Black Hills.
The film's imagery juxtaposes a breathtaking landscape with archival materials that speak to the chilling brutality that drove the federal government's campaign to eradicate Native Americans, all while allowing the Lakota people behind the fight to speak for themselves.
Fancy Dance
Fancy Dance (2023)
Oscar-nominee Lily Gladstone gives a powerhouse performance as Jax, a Seneca searching for her sister, who goes missing on the reservation. When her sister's teenage daughter, Roki, is placed with the estranged family, Jax intervenes and takes her on a road trip to a powwow. What follows is an emotional journey as Jax and Roki grapple with their place in the world.
Fancy Dance was named #1 Best Film of 2023 by The New York Times and The New Yorker, and received the Vanguard Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Four Sheets to the Wind
Four Sheets to the Wind (2007)
In the first feature film from acclaimed director Sterlin Harjo (Seminole, Muscogee), Cody Lightning stars as Cufe, a young Native man who leaves the reservation for Tulsa to visit his sister after their father dies of an overdose.
As he searches for a more fulfilling life outside of what he's always known, he tries to understand who his father was and what kind of man he wants to become. The film is a glimpse of what was to come from Harjo, whose distinct style of treating serious topics in contemporary Native life with a soft edge of whimsy has made him one of today's most exciting filmmakers.
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