Navajo Blues

Windtalkers(en)

Joe Enders is a gung-ho Marine assigned to protect a "windtalker" - one of several Navajo Indians who were used to relay messages during World War II because their spoken language was indecipherable to Japanese code breakers.

Desert Kickboxer(en)

A kickboxing cop abandons the violent life after he accidentally kills his opponent during a match. After quitting, he heads for the Arizona desert to live alone and occasionally work tracking drug runners for the area sheriff. One particularly wily Mexican drug lord, Santos, has been a real thorn in tracker Joe Highhawk's side, so when he encounters the beautiful Claudia and her simpleton brother Anthony running for their lives because she, an accountant, embezzled $20 million from Santos, he decides to help them. This actioner follows what happens next. Along the way, they encounter all sorts of danger, and double cross until the exciting final standoff between the kickboxer and the villain.

Legends from the Sky(en)

A Native American Veteran, burdened by survivor's guilt after a disastrous military tour, is forced to search for his missing grandfather after his ancestral land is mysteriously taken over by an unknown federal organization.

Shadowhunter(en)

An L.A. cop tracks down a seemingly mystic murderer on an Indian reservation.

Navajo Kid(en)

The Navajo Kid goes in search of the villains who murdered his foster-father and stole both ring and watch. The trail leads straight to Canyon City, Texas, and smooth cardsharp Honest John Grogan, who is in possession of both the stolen items. But Grogan has an ironclad alibi for the time of the murder, an alibi confirmed by none other than Sheriff Roy Landon.

Surviving Columbus(en)

This Peabody Award-winning documentary from New Mexico PBS looks at the European arrival in the Americas from the perspective of the Pueblo Peoples.

Navajo Canyon Country(en)

Overview of the Navajo people and the relationship to their land in Northern Arizona.

My Name is Hungry Buffalo(cs)

Two Spirits(en)

Fred Martinez was a Navajo youth slain at the age of 16 by a man who bragged to his friends that he 'bug-smashed a fag'. But Fred was part of an honored Navajo tradition - the 'nadleeh', or 'two-spirit', who possesses a balance of masculine and feminine traits.

Daughter of the West(en)

A convent-raised woman (Martha Vickers) learns of her American Indian heritage through romance with an educated Navajo (Philip Reed) during the 1880s.

Broken Rainbow(en)

Documentary chronicling the government relocation of 10,000 Navajo Indians in Arizona.

Concho, the Coyote Who Wasn't(en)

A coyote adopted by an old Navajo, Delgado, thinks he is a sheepdog, though he is not accepted by the other dogs of the area.

Metal From The Dirt(en)

A document of the originators of the DIY Rez Metal scene, and the bands that are now carrying the torch, including I Dont Konform, Mutilated Tyrant and Born of Winter. From a generator-powered show in the Arizona desert to a band practicing in a traditional Navajo dwelling called a Hogan, this story — told by Navajo ("Diné") bands and individuals involved in the scene — explores the creation of Rez Metal in the Eighties, the juxtaposition of old and new Navajo traditions and the link between heavy metal and native pride.

The Sunchaser(en)

A young half-Navajo convict dying of cancer forces a yuppie doctor to drive him to a magic healing lake.

NUKED(en)

The US detonated 67 nuclear weapons over the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands during the Cold War, the consequences of which still reverberate down four generations to today. "NUKED," is a timely new feature documentary focussing on the human victims of the nuclear arms race, tracing the displaced Bikinian's ongoing struggle for justice and survival even as climate change poses a new existential threat. Using carefully restored archival footage to resurrect contemporaneous islanders’ voices and juxtaposing these with the full, awesome fury of the nuclear detonations, NUKED starkly contrasts the official record with the lived experience of the Bikinians themselves, serving as an important counterpoint to this summer’s Oppenheimer.

Turquoise Rose(en)

A coming age film of a Navajo girl.

Frybread Face and Me(en)

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.

Racing the Rez(en)

Racing the Rez reveals the transformative potential of cross-country running at the team level. The story follows two rival high school teams focusing on five teens growing up on the Navajo and Hopi reservations — two distinct cultures but both richly steeped in the legacy of running as a powerful cultural tradition and a sport. Unfolding over two years of careful, patient observation, this documentary offers a rare view into the surprising complexity and diversity of contemporary reservation life, from the point of view of the young runners.

Column South(en)

In the weeks prior to the start of the Civil War, Confederate sympathizers hope to help their cause by inciting a Navajo war in the New Mexico Territory. Director Frederick de Cordova's 1953 western stars Audie Murphy, Robert Sterling, Joan Evans, Ray Collins, Dennis Weaver, Palmer Lee, Jack Kelly, James Best, Bob Steele and Ralph Moody.

Ways of Knowing: A Navajo Nuclear History(en)

The American Southwest holds a dark legacy as the place where nuclear weapons were invented and built. Navajo people have long held this place sacred, and continue to fight for a future that transcends historical trauma. This is their story.