Here are some of our favorite Indigenous movies for you to enjoy this Native American Heritage Month.
Smoke Signals (1988)
A coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Chris Eyre from a screenplay by Sherman Alexie, based on Alexie’s short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993). The film won several awards and accolades, and was well received at numerous film festivals.
In 2018, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Before Tomorrow (2008)
A Canadian drama film, directed by Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Ivalu. The film is an adaptation of the novel Før Morgendagen by Danish writer Jørn Riel. It was the third film released by Igloolik Isuma Productions, an Inuit film studio best known for the film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, and is the first feature film to be made by Arnait Video Productions, a women’s Inuit film collective.
Set in a small Inuit community in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec in the 1840s, the film stars Madeline Ivalu as Ninioq, an Inuk elder isolated with her grandson Maniq (Paul-Dylan Ivalu) after most of their community perishes from smallpox transmitted by strange traders.
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World (2017)
Filmmaker Catherine Bainbridge examines the role of Native Americans in contemporary music history. She exposes a critical missing chapter, revealing how indigenous musicians helped influence popular culture.
Angry Inuk (2016)
An Inuk filmmaker takes a close look at the central role of seal hunting in the lives of the Inuit, the importance of the revenue they earn from sales of seal skins, and the negative impact that international campaigns against the seal hunt have had on their lives.
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001)
Directed by Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk, Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner is a retelling of an Inuit legend and the first film to be written and performed entirely in Inuit. An evil spirit spreads malicious intent among a tribe of nomadic Inuit, leading to jealousy, violence, vengeance and eventually healing as Atanarjuat (Natar Ungalaaq) attempts to escape the men who murdered his brother.
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