Pick a Movie!

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World is a 2017 documentary film that shows how Native American and Indigenous musicians shaped the history of rock, blues, and jazz. It highlights a missing part of music history and features interviews with famous music stars.
Key Musicians Featured
  • Charley Patton: Known as the father of the Delta blues.
  • Mildred Bailey: A top jazz and swing singer.
  • Link Wray: The Shawnee rock guitarist who created the power chord sound.
  • Jimi Hendrix: The famous electric guitar icon with Cherokee heritage.
  • Buffy Sainte-Marie & Robbie Robertson: Indigenous singer-songwriters who found major fame in folk and rock.
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Dream Keeper
Dreamkeeper (2003) is a television film and miniseries about an aging Lakota storyteller, Pete Chasing Horse, and his troubled 17-year-old grandson, Shane. Pressured by family and local debts, Shane drives his grandfather from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to a massive powwow in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Along the highway, Pete shares traditional Native American legends that bring ancient myths and cultural identity to life.
  • The film contrasts the harsh, impoverished reality of modern reservation life with the rich beauty of Native oral traditions. It highlights how forgetting ancestral roots can lead to destructive paths like gang violence and substance abuse, while embracing culture can offer healing.
  • The movie also shows an importance of intergenerational healing. 
Prey
 Prey (2022) is a science fiction action film set in the Comanche Nation 300 years ago in 1719. It follows Naru, a skilled young warrior who wants to prove herself as a hunter. She must protect her tribe from a highly evolved alien predator that has arrived on Earth to hunt humans for sport.
  • Underdog Survival: Set in the 1700s, the characters do not have futuristic guns or modern explosives. They must rely entirely on primitive weapons, clever traps, and traditional knowledge of the natural environment. 
  • Cultural Authenticity: The film features a predominantly Indigenous cast and is praised for its historical representation of the Comanche Nation. It was even released with a full authentic Comanche-language dub option
​Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee 
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee is a 2007 historical drama film following the U.S. expansion into the American West after the Battle of Little Bighorn. It tells the tragic story through the eyes of a Sioux doctor, a proud Lakota chief, and a U.S. senator, ending with the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.
Characters to note:
  • Charles Eastman: A young Sioux doctor who went to college. He tries to help his people fit into white culture.
  • Sitting Bull: A strong Lakota leader. He refuses to give up his people's land and freedom.
  • Senator Henry Dawes: A U.S. lawmaker. He helps write government rules for Native Americans.
  • Elaine Goodale: A white teacher. She works with Eastman on the reservation.​
​Rez Ball 
Rez Ball is a 2024 sports drama, directed by Sydney Freeland and produced by LeBron James, following the Chuska Warriors, a Native American high school basketball team in New Mexico. After a profound personal tragedy strikes their star player, the team must unite and lean on their community and cultural resilience to chase a state championship
​Key Takeaways
  • Community and Resilience: Shows how sport acts as a heartbeat and unifying force within Native American reservations.
  • Mental Health and Loss: Tackles heavy real-life themes like grief, suicide, and family hardship among indigenous youth
Wind Talkers
In the 2002 war film Windtalkers directed by John Woo, U.S. Marine Sergeant Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage) is assigned to protect Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach), a Navajo code talker during World War II. Enders has a secret order: protect the unbreakable Navajo radio code at all costs, which includes killing his own assigned code talker if capture by the enemy is near​