Indigenous Directors
This list includes film directors of indigenous descent. Sorted alphabetically by last name. See notes for ethnicity and/or tribal affiliations (sometimes those are the same thing).
Note: For alphabetical sorting, I will go with how the names appear on this platform. Many will likely be exonymic or Latin transcriptions of original indigenous names.
I will add endonyms for ethnicities in the following format: [exonym/endonym: official tribal (if available)].
More indigenous filmmakers:
https://www.sundance.org/blogs/program-spotlight/9-indigenous-made-films-to-premiere-at-the-sundance-film-festival
Note: For alphabetical sorting, I will go with how the names appear on this platform. Many will likely be exonymic or Latin transcriptions of original indigenous names.
I will add endonyms for ethnicities in the following format: [exonym/endonym: official tribal (if available)].
More indigenous filmmakers:
https://www.sundance.org/blogs/program-spotlight/9-indigenous-made-films-to-premiere-at-the-sundance-film-festival
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- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Joey Clift is a comedian, TV writer, and enrolled Cowlitz Indian Tribal Member. He went to college to be a local TV weather person, because as a kid he didn't see any Native American comedians on television which led him to believe he wasn't allowed to work in the entertainment industry. Over the years he's learned that's absolutely not true and he's written for many shows and projects including Spirit Rangers on Netflix, New Looney Tunes on Cartoon Network and Molly of Denali on PBS. He also created, wrote and directed "Gone Native," a Comedy Central digital series about weird racial microaggressions Native American people often deal with, and his award-winning short films have screened everywhere from Just For Laughs to The Smithsonian Museum.
Most importantly, he started the LA Underground Cat Network, which is a 16,000-member strong Facebook group for Los Angeles comedians to share pictures of their cats. He's kind of a cat guy.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Mohawk filmmaker Tracey Deer's debut feature Beans, a coming-of-age story about a young Mohawk girl's experiences during the Oka Crisis, screened at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to critical acclaim. Tracey was also honored with the prestigious TIFF Emerging Talent Award, presented to her by Ava DuVernay, and chosen as one of Variety's 10 Screenwriters to Watch. The searing performances and poignant storytelling in Beans earned it 2nd Runner Up for the TIFF People's Choice Award. Beans went on to win Best Canadian Film and Most Popular Canadian Narrative (Audience Choice) at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF).
Beginning her career in documentary, Tracey teamed up with Rezolution on feature documentaries One More River: The Deal that Split the Cree, Mohawk Girls, and Club Native, as well as the documentary series Working it Out Together, seasons I & II. This collaboration continued into fiction television with the critically acclaimed dramedy Mohawk Girls, which ran for five seasons and on which she shared showrunning duties with creative partner Cynthia Knight.
Tracey's work has been honored with two Gemini Awards and numerous awards from multiple film festivals, including Hot Docs. She has worked with the CBC, the National Film Board (NFB), and numerous independent production companies throughout Canada in both documentary and fiction. She was nominated four years in a row for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction in a Comedy Series for Mohawk Girls and honored at TIFF 2016 as a recipient of the Birks Diamond Tribute Award.
Tracey began production on Beans right after returning from LA, where she was a writing co-EP on season 3 of the Netflix/CBC series Anne with an E, working alongside showrunner Moira Walley-Beckett (an Emmy winner for Breaking Bad). Tracey wrote one episode of Anne with an E and co-wrote a second. Her projects in development include Inner City Girl, a feature about aboriginal gang life, with Original Pictures.
Tracey strongly believes in giving back to the community. She chairs the board of directors of Women in View, a non-profit that promotes greater diversity and balance in Canadian media, from the standpoint of employment equity, creative authority and gender representation. In 2017, she was appointed to the board of directors of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. She has mentored emerging talent as leader of the Director Training Program at the imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival. She has also been a guest mentor at the National Screen Institute (NSI) New Indigenous Voices Program and a directing mentor for NSI's new IndigiDocs training course.- Art Department
- Writer
- Art Director
Gwaai Edenshaw is known for Edge of the Knife (2018), Haida Raid 3: Save Our Waters (2014) and Octopus Story (2013).[Haida/X̱aayda]- Director
- Writer
- Cinematographer
Helen Haig-Brown is known for Edge of the Knife (2018), My Legacy (2014) and ?E?ANX (The Cave) (2009).[Tsilhqotʼin/Chilcotin]- Casting Department
- Sound Department
- Producer
Danis Goulet is an award-winning writer and director. Her films have screened at festivals around the world including Sundance, the Berlin International Film Festival, MoMA and the Toronto International Film Festival. She is a former programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival and a former director of the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. In 2018, she joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and in 2021, she joined the Board for the Toronto International Film Festival.
Her debut feature Night Raiders premiered in the Panorama section of the 2021 Berlinale and was selected as a Gala Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival 2021 where Danis was recognized with a TIFF Tribute Award. She was also awarded the Directors Guild of Canada's Discovery Award in 2021 and the film won the Grand Prix at the Festival du nouveau cinéma de Montréal. Danis also completed production on a Netflix thriller in 2021. She is Cree/Metis, originally from La Ronge, Saskatchewan.[Cree-Métis]- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Sterlin Harjo is known for Reservation Dogs (2021), Barking Water (2009) and Osiyo, Voices of the Cherokee People (2015).- Writer
- Art Department
Zoe Hopkins is known for Mirrored 2020 (2020) and Closed Doors (2021).- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Alanis Obomsawin was born on 31 August 1932 in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA. She is a director and writer, known for Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993), Waban-aki: People from Where the Sun Rises (2006) and Is the Crown at War with Us? (2002).[Abenaki/Wαpánahki]- Producer
- Writer
- Actor
Taika Waititi, also known as Taika Cohen, hails from the Raukokore region of the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand, and is the son of Robin (Cohen), a teacher, and Taika Waititi, an artist and farmer. His father is Maori (Te-Whanau-a-Apanui), and his mother is of Ashkenazi Jewish, Irish, Scottish, and English descent. Taika has been involved in the film industry for several years, initially as an actor, and now focusing on writing and directing.
Two Cars, One Night is Taika's first professional film-making effort and since its completion in 2003 he has finished another short "Tama Tu" about a group of Maori Soldiers in Italy during World War 2. As a performer and comedian, Taika has been involved in some of the most innovative and successful original productions seen in New Zealand. He regularly does stand-up gigs in and around the country and in 2004 launched his solo production, "Taika's Incredible Show". In 2005 he staged the sequel, "Taika's Incrediblerer Show". As an actor, Taika has been critically acclaimed for both his Comedic and Dramatic abilities. In 2000 he was nominated for Best Actor at the Nokia Film Awards for his role in the Sarkies Brother's film "Scarfies".
Taika is also an experienced painter and photographer, having exhibited both mediums in Wellington and Berlin, and a fashion designer. He attended the Sundance Writers Lab with "Choice", a feature loosely based on "Two Cars, One Night".
Taika became a blockbuster director with his film Thor: Ragnarok (2017), and received critical acclaim, and a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, for his film Jojo Rabbit (2019).[Maori/Māori: Te Whānau-ā-Apanui]- Writer
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- Actress
Amanda Kernell was born on 9 September 1986 in Umeå, Västerbottens län, Sweden. She is a writer and director, known for Sami Blood (2016), Charter (2020) and Northern Great Mountain (2015).[Sámi: Southern Sámi/Saemieh]- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Nils Gaup was born on 12 April 1955 in Kautokeino, Norway. He is a director and actor, known for Pathfinder (1987), Head Above Water (1993) and Pathfinder (2007).[Sámi: Northern Sámi/Sámit]