Movies Similar to Sacred Waters: Anishinaabeg Naagdawenmaanaanig Giigoonhkewin

INAATE/SE/(2016)

INAATE/SE/ re-imagines an ancient Ojibway story, the Seven Fires Prophecy, which both predates and predicts first contact with Europeans. A kaleidoscopic experience blending documentary, narrative, and experimental forms, INAATE/SE/ transcends linear colonized history to explore how the prophecy resonates through the generations in their indigenous community within Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. With acute geographic specificity, and grand historical scope, the film fixes its lens between the sacred and the profane to pry open the construction of contemporary indigenous identity.

4.5

No image

Caribou Hunters(1951)

A doc about the Cree and Chippewa people of northern Manitoba. Made in the mid 20th century, it is dated in tone, but provides insight into the vital relationship that existed between First Nations and the caribou herds that sustained them.

0.0

1492: Conquest of Paradise(1992)

1492: Conquest of Paradise depicts Christopher Columbus’ discovery of The New World and his effect on the indigenous people.

6.3

Two Spirits(2009)

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.

4.3

Sacheen: Breaking the Silence(2019)

Revisiting the achievements of Sacheen Littlefeather, the first woman of color to utilize the Academy Awards to make a political statement.

0.0

Apocalypto(2006)

Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life.

7.6

No image

Indian America: A Gift from the Past(1994)

In 1970 a storm uncovers an ancient whaling village called Ozette which had been buried some 500 years ago by a massive mudslide. The resulting excavation brings new knowledge of the past important to both the Makah Indians, living on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington and for the historical record of Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest.

0.0

Untold: Sign Stealer(2024)

In this sports documentary, Connor Stalions addresses the allegations surrounding the Michigan football sign-stealing scandal for the first time.

6.8

The New World(2005)

A drama about explorer John Smith and the clash between Native Americans and English settlers in the 17th century.

6.5

No image

LaDonna Harris: Indian 101(2014)

A documentary film about Comanche activist LaDonna Harris, who led an extensive life of Native political and social activism, and is now passing on her traditional cultural and leadership values to a new generation of emerging Indigenous leaders.

1.0

Surviving Columbus(1992)

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

0.0

Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier(1991)

An intimate exploration of the circumstances surrounding the incarceration of Native American activist Leonard Peltier, convicted of murder in 1977, with commentary from those involved, including Peltier himself.

0.0

Seaspiracy(2021)

Passionate about ocean life, a filmmaker sets out to document the harm that humans do to marine species — and uncovers an alarming global conspiracy.

7.8

First Daughter and the Black Snake(2017)

The “Prophecy of the 7th Fire” says a “black snake” will bring destruction to the earth. For Winona LaDuke, the “black snake” is oil trains and pipelines. When she learns that Canadian-owned Enbridge plans to route a new pipeline through her tribe’s 1855 Treaty land, she and her community spring into action to save the sacred wild rice lakes and preserve their traditional indigenous way of life. Launching an annual spiritual horse ride along the proposed pipeline route, speaking at community meetings and regulatory hearings. Winona testifies that the pipeline route follows one of historical and present-day trauma. The tribe participates in the pipeline permitting process, asserting their treaty rights to protect their natural resources. LaDuke joins with her tribe and others to demand that the pipelines’ impact on tribal people’s resources be considered in the permitting process.

5.0

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee(2007)

Beginning just after the bloody Sioux victory over General Custer at Little Big Horn, the story is told through two unique perspectives: Charles Eastman, a young, white-educated Sioux doctor held up as living proof of the alleged success of assimilation, and Sitting Bull the proud Lakota chief whose tribe won the American Indians’ last major victory at Little Big Horn.

6.5

Incident at Oglala(1992)

On June 26, 1975, during a period of high tensions on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, two FBI agents were killed in a shootout with a group of Indians. Although several men were charged with killing the agents, only one, Leonard Peltier, was found guilty. This film describes the events surrounding the shootout and suggests that Peltier was unjustly convicted.

7.0

The Old Man and the Sea Lion(2024)

71-year-old diver Fujita Hisao has spent 40 years drawing attention to the beauty of ocean life, particularly the graceful sea lions, which face lethal removal due to their obstruction of fishing nets.

0.0

No image

Beauty of Pursuit(2021)

In Paul Brandt’s filming debut, he joins friend Paul Norris and legendary fly-fishing guide, Naoto Aoki, on a journey that is both a look into his consuming passion for fly fishing and an ode to his hometown of Calgary, which he dubs as the World’s Largest Fly Fishing Lodge.

0.0

Killers of the Flower Moon(2023)

When oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one—until the FBI steps in to unravel the mystery.

7.4

Northwest Passage(1940)

Based on the Kenneth Roberts novel of the same name, this film tells the story of two friends who join Rogers' Rangers, as the legendary elite force engages the enemy during the French and Indian War. The film focuses on their famous raid at Fort St. Francis and their marches before and after the battle.

6.5