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Welcome to Heartdrum, a new imprint by Native American authors for kids 8+! Heartfelt, groundbreaking, and unexpected, these children’s books emphasize the present and future of Indian Country and the strength of young Indigenous heroes.
WNDB: We Need Diverse Books https://diversebooks.org/#start-here
FILMS TO WATCH:
WAR PONY follows the interlocking stories of two young Lakota men on the Pine Ridge Reservation as they grapple with a world built against them and navigate unique paths to manhood.
ALASKAN NETS:
In Alaska’s last native reserve, two cousins lead their local basketball team to its first state championship in more than 30 years. It’s about a basketball team from an island off the coast of Southeast Alaska of called Metlakatla (see Google Maps) aka “Met”.
As they set their eyes on a championship, an all-Native American girls’ lacrosse team seeks to change their tribe’s attitudes about gender roles. So many conflicts… girls playing lacrosse when it’s a traditional men’s sport. / an all native girls team / low self esteem, related to being native, with many of the girls / cross-rival team that is not mostly tribal, but has an Indian mascot ??!!
RACING THE REZ DOCUMENTARY 2012
Racing the Rez follows Navajo and Hopi cross-country runners from two rival high schools as they put it all on the line for Tribal pride, triumph over adversity and state championship glory.
Win or lose, what they learn in the course of their seasons will have a dramatic effect on the rest of their lives.
RACING THE REZ DOCUMENTARY 2012
Racing the Rez follows Navajo and Hopi cross-country runners from two rival high schools as they put it all on the line for Tribal pride, triumph over adversity and state championship glory.
Win or lose, what they learn in the course of their seasons will have a dramatic effect on the rest of their lives.
A Native woman kidnaps her niece from the child’s White grandparents as she searches for her missing sister in what Sundance describes as “a nuanced account of the human costs of the missing and murdered Indigenous women epidemic and the possibilities of healing for those left behind.”
The film includes Native talent and crew, including actors Lily Gladstone, Blackfeet and Nimíipuu, who will appear in “Killers of the Flower Moon” this year; Canadian Isabel Deroy-Olson, “Three Pines”; and Ryan Begay, Diné, “Breaking Bad.” Officials from the Cherokee Tribal Film Office and other Oklahoma film officials are joining Tremblay and the cast and crew to support Native film during the festival.
INISKIM: DOCUMENTARY 2021
Shot on the real-life Blackfeet buffalo drive and inspired by a true story, Iniskim follows a young girl’s journey from trauma to recovery.
By reconnecting with the ancient power of the buffalo, the timeless landscape of her ancestors, and the wisdom of her culture, her life is changed forever.
INISKIM: DOCUMENTARY 2021
Shot on the real-life Blackfeet buffalo drive and inspired by a true story, Iniskim follows a young girl’s journey from trauma to recovery.
By reconnecting with the ancient power of the buffalo, the timeless landscape of her ancestors, and the wisdom of her culture, her life is changed forever.
ONE WITH THE WHALE, 2023
Documentary, 83 minutes Hunting whales is a matter of life or death for the residents of St. Lawrence, a remote island in the Bering Sea. So when Chris Apassingok becomes the youngest person to ever harpoon a whale for his Alaskan village, his mother proudly shares the news on Facebook. To her surprise, thousands of keyboard activists brutally attack Chris without fully understanding the scope of his accomplishment. One With The Whale is a heartwarming yet thrilling story of one family’s struggle to rebuild their shattered identities and regain a new foothold in both the ancient and modern world.
CULTURE SHOCK, 2024
“Culture Shock” follows Joey as they are sent to culture camp, on the Settlement where their family is from, for getting into trouble with the wrong crowd. This film captures so much of the beauty and strength of having connection to your community.
ON THE RIDGE. 2024
An inspirational story focusing on the success and triumph of the Oglala Lakota people of Pine Ridge. This documentary takes an in-depth look at the amazing programs, customs, and people that are making positive change on the Reservation.
BAD RIVER: Documentary film, 2024
Bad River, a documentary film set for release on March 15, 2024, delves into the real-life David-and-Goliath battle over the Line 5 Pipeline between the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and Enbridge, a massive pipeline company. The film highlights the Bad River Band’s fight to protect their land from potential environmental catastrophe caused by the pipeline, which traverses their reservation and sits, exposed, near an eroding part of the Bad River. Despite the Band’s legal efforts and the clear risks posed by the pipeline’s deteriorating condition, the struggle persists in both legal and political arenas.
BRING THEM HOME, 2024
LITTLE CHIEF – OMELETEOwith Lily Gladstone
Trailer for Little Chief directed by Erica Tremblay. For more information, visit www.cinelasamericas.org
THE TUNDRA WITHIN ME, 2024
Sara Margrethe Oskal’s romantic debut film, takes place in the reindeer herding environment of Finnmarksvidda. Lena, a Sami artist returns to her hometown and is confronted with unpopular life choices.
Unexpectedly, love appears.
ECHO, 2024
Set in Oklahoma’s Choctaw Nation, Marvel Studio’s new miniseries Echo follows Maya Lopez(Alaqua Cox) as she returns home and connects with her Native American roots after a bounty has been placed on her head in New York – and the cast is full of Indigenous people from this side of the border.
TENTSITEWAHKWE 2024
Shenandoah goes on a journey across four seasons and multiple Native territories to connect with other knowledge keepers reviving the land-based knowledge of their ancestral grandmothers in order to return to time-honoured practices of pottery making, mat weaving, hike tanning, medicine making, food gathering and more. Jessica embodies the Mohawk concept of Tentsitewahkwe as she picks up knowledge of the old ways, these slow methods of creating and connecting in reciprocity with the Earth.
SUGARCANE. 2024
A stunning tribute to the resilience of Native people and their way of life, SUGARCANE, the debut feature documentary from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, 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. Set amidst a groundbreaking breaking investigation, SUGARCANE illuminates the beauty of a community breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma and finding the strength to persevere.
UNDER THE BRIDGE, mini series 8 episodes 2024
Fourteen-year-old Reena Virk went to join friends at a party and never returned home. Seven teenage girls and a boy were accused of the savage murder.
IN THE DIRT, 2024
IN THE DIRT is a documentary film about a group of passionate Native American cyclists who attempt to bring the sport of mountain biking to the Navajo Nation, where no bike shops exist.
In 2018, retired pro cyclist Scott Nydam and his family moved to Gallup, New Mexico to pursue a healthcare job for his wife. Soon after their arrival, Scott began meeting passionate mountain bikers across the 28,000-mile expanse of the Navajo Nation who loved the bike and wanted to bring the sport to their communities. The only problem is no bike shops existed. Through a grassroots native-led effort, this group of dedicated cyclists and their families have overcome countless odds to build a cycling culture that today has become the fastest-growing recreational sport on the Navajo Nation.
PBS documentary 2025
A look inside Alaska Native villages fighting for survival against climate change. With the Howard Center at ASU, FRONTLINE examines why communities are relocating and why they’re struggling to preserve their traditions.
Bring Them Home tells the story of a small group of Blackfoot people and their mission to establish the first wild buffalo herd on their ancestral territory since the species’ near-extinction a century ago.