This Thanksgiving and during Native American Heritage Month, check out these eleven movies featuring Indigenous artists, actors, and writers telling stories in their own voices.
Looking for more great recommendations? Check out our list of 34 Books By Indigenous Authors to Read for Thanksgiving Break (And Every Day).
Cover Image from Rez Ball (2024), Netflix
Miss Navajo (2007)
Dir. Billy Luther
Not Rated
Miss Navajo follows the path of 21-year-old Crystal Frazier, a not-so-fluent Navajo speaker and self-professed introvert, as she undertakes the challenges of the Miss Navajo pageant. Directed by Billy Luther, whose own mother was crowned Miss Navajo 1966, the film reveals the inner beauty of the young women who compete in this celebration of womanhood. Not only must contestants exhibit poise and grace as those in typical pageants, they must also answer tough questions in Navajo and demonstrate proficiency in skills essential to daily tribal life: fry-bread making, rug weaving and sheep butchering.
-Cinema Guild
Wild Indian (2021)
Dir. by Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.
Not rated
Decades after covering up his classmate’s murder, Michael (Michael Greyeyes) has moved on from his reservation and fractured past. When a man who shares his violent secret seeks vengeance, Michael goes to great lengths to protect his new life with his wife (Kate Bosworth) and boss (Jesse Eisenberg) from the demons of his past.—Front Row Filmed Entertainment
Sugarcane (2024)
Dir. by Emily Kassie and Julian Brave Noisecat
Rated r
A stunning tribute to the resilience of Native people and their way of life, Sugarcane, winner of the Sundance Directing Award, is an epic cinematic portrait of a community during a moment of international reckoning. In 2021, evidence of unmarked graves was discovered on the grounds of an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in Canada. After years of silence, the forced separation, assimilation and abuse many children experienced at these segregated boarding schools was brought to light, sparking a national outcry against a system designed to destroy Indigenous communities.
-National Geographic
catch the fair one (2021)
Dir. by Josef Kubota Wladyka
Not Rated
Native American boxer Kaylee embarks on the fight of her life when she goes undercover in a sex trafficking operation to seek answers and revenge against the men responsible for the disappearance of her sister. Native American boxer Kali Reis, a descendant of the Wampanoag tribe, made her film debut as writer and lead actress in this thriller.
Lakota Nation v. United States (2023)
Dir. by Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli
Rated PG-13
Lakota Nation vs. United States chronicles the Lakota Indians’ century-long quest to reclaim the Black Hills, sacred land that was stolen in violation of treaty agreements. A searing, timely portrait of resistance, the film explores the ways America has ignored its debt to indigenous communities, and ponders what might be done today to repair the wrongs of the past.
-Rotten Tomatoes
FryBread Face and Me (2023)
Dir. by Billy Luther
Rated TV-MA
Two adolescent Navajo cousins from different worlds bond during a summer herding sheep on their grandmother’s ranch in Arizona while learning more about their family’s past and themselves.
-IMDB
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001)
Dir. by Zacharias Kunuk
Rated R
This adaptation of an ancient Inuit legend was filmed in Inuktitut and directed by Inuit filmmakers— making Atanarjuat the first feature film of its kind. Set in Igloolik, in Nunavut, this is “a powerful drama, not a documentary,” reminds the director Kunuk.
-National Film Board of Canada
Reel injun: on the trail of the hollywood Indian
Dir. by Neil Diamond, Catherine Bainbridge, and Jeremiah Hayes
NOT RATED
Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond takes a look at the Hollywood Indian, exploring the portrayal of North American Natives through a century of cinema. Traveling through the heartland of America, and into the Canadian North, Diamond looks at how the myth of “the Injun” has influenced the world’s understanding— and misunderstanding— of Natives.
-PBS
Black Indians: An American Story
Dir. by Chip Richie
nOT RATED
James Earl Jones narrates a stunning and informative documentary “Black Indians: An American Story”, which explores issues of racial identity between the mixed-descent peoples of both Native American and African American heritage.
-IMDB
Mele Murals (2016)
Dir. by Tadashi Nakamura
NOT RATED
A documentary about the transformative power of art through the unlikely union of graffiti and ancient Hawaiian culture. At the center of this story are the artists Estria Miyashiro (aka Estria) and John Hina (aka Prime), and a group of Native Hawaiian youth from the rural community of Waimea, HI. Together they create a mural that addresses the ill effects of environmental changes and encroaching modernization on their native culture.
-Kanopy
Rez ball (2024)
Dir. by Sydney Freeland
Rated PG-13
Taking place over a season in the life of basketball players from a Native American reservation, Rez Ball is the lightning-fast story of a team of underdogs fighting for a state championship. Directed by Sydney Freeland (Drunktown’s Finest), who co-wrote the script with Sterlin Harjo (Reservation Dogs), and produced by LeBron James himself, this is a sports story you won’t want to miss.
-Netflix