Red Carpet Reflections: Awards Season through a Native Lens

Published February 28, 2025    By Joshua Arce

As the Academy Awards approach, Hollywood’s biggest night brings excitement, celebration, and a fresh focus on the film industry. For Native communities, it’s also a time to reflect on the representation — past, present, and future — of Indigenous people in cinema.

Progress is evident through films like Killers of the Flower Moon, Prey and Sugarcane – an Oscar nominee for “Best Documentary” this year. Sugarcane reveals the untold story of attempted cultural genocide through the Indian boarding school system. However, the industry still has a long way to go in leveraging authentic Native storytelling and talent. The Oscars, as a global platform, can either reinforce stereotypes or pave the way for change by recognizing Indigenous actors, directors, writers, and stories.

Why Representation Matters

For decades, non-Native Native actors played Native characters in Hollywood films, often in roles that misrepresented or caricatured Indigenous people. These portrayals contributed to harmful stereotypes, distorting public perceptions and real-world policies and actions affecting Native communities. Authentic representation isn’t just about DEI or awards in Hollywood. It’s about cultural preservation, economic opportunities for Native creatives, and shifting the narrative to one of strength, resilience, and truth. Representation is about portraying accurate historical accounts through the people most profoundly affected.

Films have the power to influence hearts and minds. This is especially true when Native actors and filmmakers can tell their own stories. Authentic Native films foster understanding, dismantle harmful tropes, and inspire Native youth who rarely see themselves reflected on screen. They also help clarify some of the long-held misconceptions about Native people, history, and funding.

Take Sugarcane for example: This film dives deep into the tragic and hidden abuse that occurred throughout the U.S. and Canadian Indian boarding schools. Native Americans know this truth all too well. This “residential school system” dates all the way back to the early 19th century. The goal was to separate Native children from their families and Indigenous roots and assimilate them into White society. But many of these children were never seen again – largely a secret until school burial grounds were discovered. A 2022 Associated Press story with the U.S. Department of the Interior focused on these discoveries, citing that the number of Native bodies on boarding school properties was likely to be in the “thousands or tens of thousands.”

Progress and the Path Forward

Recent years have seen groundbreaking work by Native artists in Hollywood, from Sterlin Harjo’s awards for Reservation Dogs to Lily Gladstone’s historic Golden Globe Award and Oscar nomination for Killers of the Flower Moon. These milestones demonstrate that Indigenous stories, when told with authenticity and respectfully, resonate with audiences worldwide.

However, recognition during the awards season and other major industry platforms must go beyond a handful of breakthrough moments. Studios and production companies need to commit to hiring Native talent, funding Indigenous-led projects, and ensuring representation across all levels of filmmaking — from acting to directing to production design.

Visit www.nativeaware.org to learn about all the ways you can become more NativeAware® today. And tell us about your favorite Native film!