Native American Heritage Month 2023

Let us continue to amplify films by and about Indigenous communities including…

Beans directed by Tracey Deer

Twelve-year-old Beans is on the edge: torn between innocent childhood and reckless adolescence; forced to grow up fast and become the tough Mohawk warrior she needs to be during the Oka Crisis, the turbulent Indigenous uprising that tore Quebec and Canada apart for 78 tense days in the summer of 1990.

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Deidra & Laney Rob a Train directed by Sydney Freeland

After their mother ends up in jail, two sisters turn to train robbery in order to support their family.

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End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock directed by Shannon Kring

Featuring shocking, never-before-seen law enforcement video surrendered by a disgraced officer, END OF THE LINE: THE WOMEN OF STANDING ROCK is the incredible story of the indigenous women who establish a peaceful camp in protest of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline construction that desecrated ancient burial and prayer sites and threatens their land, water, and very existence.

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First Daughter and the Black Snake directed by Keri Pickett

Winona LaDuke believes Big Oil is the black snake predicted in indigenous prophecy to bring the earth’s destruction. When new oil pipelines threaten sacred wild rice lakes, Winona dreams of riding her horse against the current of oil, organizing a spiritual ride, “because a horse can kill a snake.”

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Fruits of Labor directed by Emily Cohen Ibañez

Ashley, a Mexican-American teenager living in California, dreams of graduating high school and going to college. But when ICE raids threaten her family, Ashley is forced to become the breadwinner, working days in the strawberry fields and nights at a food processing company.

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Jewel’s Hunt directed by Alexandra Stergiou

Jewel comes from a long line of skilled native Alaskan hunters. But can she balance the complications of a modern teenager with her connection to village life?

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Kapaemahu directed by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu

This story reveals the healing power of four mysterious boulder on Waikiki Beach – and the legendary dual female and male spirits within them.

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Maxima directed by Claudia Sparrow

An indigenous woman from the Peruvian Andes who cannot read or write, stands up to the largest gold producer in the world, US-based Newmont Mining Corporation.

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Mohawk Girls directed by Tracey Deer

Four twenty-something Indigenous women try to find their place in the world and try to find love; but in a small community where friends have dated everyone on the rez, or the hot new guy turns out to be a cousin, it’s not that simple.

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Out of State directed by Ciara Lacy

After a cultural transformation in an Arizona prison, two Hawaiian men return to Hawaii to start life over and wrestle with pressures from the outside world.

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Powerlands directed by Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso

In POWERLANDS, a young Navajo filmmaker investigates displacement of Indigenous people and devastation of the environment caused by the same chemical companies that have exploited the land where she was born. On this personal and political journey she learns from Indigenous activists across three continents.

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Pure Grit directed by Kim Bartley Manybeads Tso

PURE GRIT chronicles the life of Sharmaine, a ten time Native American bareback horse racing champion as she navigates the highs and lows of life on and off the reservation. PURE GRIT is an exhilarating and deeply affecting film about life, love and the challenges of growing up on the harsh but magnificent Wind River reservation in Wyoming.

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Return of the Buffalo directed by Suzan Satterfield

This film honors both the Lakota people on the Rosebud Reservation and their deep cultural connection to the Tatonka, or “buffalo people,” throughout their history. The film weaves the buffalos’ relationship to the land and the Lakota people as so deeply intertwined that they must be seen as a whole web of life. Their return as a free ranging herd is the long-held dream of Wizipan Little Elk, the leader of RedCo. Little Elk strongly believes that the return of the buffalo will help restore the Lakota people’s cultural, spiritual, and economic strength. His vision is supported by many partners, and an early step in a long journey toward healing.

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Sisters Rising co-directed by Willow O’Feral

SISTERS RISING is a powerful feature documentary about six Native American women reclaiming personal & tribal sovereignty. Native American women are 2.5 times more likely to experience sexual assault than all other American women and 86 percent of the offenses are committed by non-Native men. Follow six women who refuse to let this pattern of violence continue in the shadows as their stories shine an unflinching light on righting injustice on both an individual and systemic level.

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The Boxers of Brule directed by Jessie Adler

THE BOXERS OF BRULE is a story of healing through sport, sisterhood and tradition. In response to rising youth suicide rates within their tribe, a group of girls’ from the Kul Wicasa Oyate form a boxing team on their reservation in present day South Dakota.

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Please also take a moment to acknowledge what native land you are on and explore additional resources here.