
Sterlin Harjo
Directing
Biography
Sterlin Harjo (born 14 November 1979) is a member of the Seminole Nation and has Muskogee heritage. He was raised in Holdenville, Oklahoma and attended the University of Oklahoma, where he studied art and film. He received a fellowship from the Sundance Institute in 2004. His short film, Goodnight, Irene, premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and received a special jury award at the Aspen Shortfest. In 2006, he received a fellowship from the newly formed United States Artists foundation. Harjo's first feature film, Four Sheets to the Wind, tells the story of a young Seminole man who travels from his small hometown to Tulsa to visit his sister after the death of their father. The film premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival where it was nominated for the grand jury prize. Harjo was named best director at the 2007 American Indian Film Festival. Harjo's second feature, Barking Water, premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. It portrays a road trip by a dying man and his former lover across Oklahoma to see his daughter and granddaughter in Wewoka, the capital of the Seminole Nation. Barking Water was named best drama film at the 2009 American Indian Film Festival. Harjo's first feature documentary, This May Be the Last Time, is based on the story of Harjo's grandfather, who disappeared in 1962 in theSeminal County town of Sasakwa. It explores the subject of Creek Nation hymns and their connection to Scottish, folk, gospel and rock music. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. His third feature film, Mekko, a thriller set in Tulsa, premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2015. Mekko paints the portrait of a homeless Native American parolee who seeks to save his chaotic yet beautiful community from the darkness that threatens it. Harjo has also directed a number of short-form projects. His 2009 short film Cepanvkuce Tutcenen (Three Little Boys) was part of the Embargo Collective project commissioned by the imagineNative Film + Median Arts Festival. He has directed a series of shorts for This Land Press in Tulsa, where Harjo is the staff video director. He was a member of the 2010 Sundance shorts competition jury. Harjo is a founding member of a five-member Native American comedy group, The 1491s. He also is one of the directors of Cherokee Nation’s monthly television news magazine, Osiyo, Voices of the Cherokee People, which is produced by Fire Thief Productions, a Native American production company which he co-founded with Cherokee photographer, Jeremy Charles.
Known For

Brakebills University is a secret institution specializing in magic. There, amidst an unorthodox education of spellcasting, a group of twenty-something friends soon discover that a magical fantasy world they read about as children is all too real— and poses grave danger to humanity.
The Magicians

Four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma steal, rob and save in order to get to the exotic, mysterious and faraway land of California.
Reservation Dogs

Follow the gritty exploits of citizen journalist Lee Raybon, a self-proclaimed Tulsa "truthstorian" whose obsession with the truth is always getting him into trouble.
The Lowdown

A celebration of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s iconic careers and decades-long partnership. Director Ethan Hawke brings life and color to this definitive history of their love, lives, and philanthropy.
The Last Movie Stars

After losing their star player, a high school basketball team rooted in Native American culture must unite to keep their state championship dreams alive.
Rez Ball

Mekko gets out of prison after 19 years. He has no home or family so he makes his way to Tulsa. He tries to connect with a cousin but she turns him away. With nowhere to go Mekko ends up sleeping on the streets. He is taken in by the homeless native community. At times jovial, there is a dark undercurrent to the community. He begins having issues with a man named Bill. Bill is pure evil. Convinced that this man is a witch, Mekko turns to the old teachings of his grandmother in order to rid the community of this 'witch'. It's a story of redemption, and hope. Mekko is in search of his home and the strength to forgive himself of his past.
Mekko

After his father's untimely suicide, Cufe leaves his home in a Native American reservation in search of a more fulfilling life.
Four Sheets to the Wind

Red Fever is a witty and entertaining feature documentary about the profound -- yet hidden -- Indigenous influence on Western culture and identity. The film follows Cree co-director Neil Diamond as he asks, “Why do they love us so much?!” and sets out on a journey to find out why the world is so fascinated with the stereotypical imagery of Native people that is all over pop culture. Why have Indigenous cultures been revered, romanticized, and appropriated for so long, and to this day? Red Fever uncovers the surprising truths behind the imagery -- so buried in history that even most Native people don't know about them.
Red Fever

Writer producer Donick Cary (The Simpsons, Parks and Recreation, Have a Good Trip, etc.) has been a huge fan of the Washington D.C. pro football team since before he could walk. Passed down from his dad, he was excited to pass the tradition onto his kids. Donick never questioned the team name and or Native American logo until one day, while watching a game, his 9-year-old son, Otis, asked him if it was racist. When Otis suggests they ask Native Americans how they feel, it sends the two on a cross-country journey full of unexpected surprises.
Hail to the Breadsticks!

This film is an intimate portrayal of pioneering filmmaker Merata Mita told through the eyes of her children. Using hours of archive footage, some never before seen, her youngest child and director Hepi Mita discovers the filmmaker he never knew and shares the mother he lost, with the world.
Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen

Filmmaker Sterlin Harjo follows Native artists for a year as they navigate their careers in the US and abroad. The film explores the immense complexities each artist faces concerning their own identity as Native artists, as well as pushing further Native art into a post-colonial world.
Love and Fury

A portrait of a growing movement amongst Indigenous Americans to reclaim their spiritual and cultural identities through obtaining sovereignty over their ancestral food systems, while battling against the historical trauma brought on by centuries of genocide.
Gather

After her sister Tama’s untimely passing, Birdie learns that the bond between them is stronger than life and death.
Thin Places

The lives of a Native woman and a troubled young boy intersect over the course of a school day on a reservation in Oklahoma.
Little Chief

Filmmaker Sterlin Harjo's Grandfather disappeared mysteriously in 1962. The community searching for him sang songs of encouragement that were passed down for generations. Harjo explores the origins of these songs as well as the violent history of his people.
This May Be the Last Time
Native American actor Martin Sensmeier travels to San Juan County, Utah, to investigate the controversy over the Bears Ears National Monument. While there, he learns how the fight over the monument is just one more battle in a long-running war between the county's Native American citizens and their Mormon neighbors over who will control the future of the county. His journey reveals how voting rights denied by the Mormons have led to the marginalization of their Native neighbors and learns about the long history of looting of sacred archeological sites in the county.
Who Controls the Land

Powwow People is a portrait of a powwow and its participants.
Powwow People

Frankie is dying. Irene hasn't forgiven him. And they are racing against time to find their way home. Frankie needs help and Irene is the one he turns to. He must go home one last time. And, like so many times before, Irene is extending herself beyond her common sense. The two set out on a journey that becomes more than getting home; confronting the past, love, understanding, and self discovery. Barking Water is a tale of great love that looks at what brings us all together. It's a tale of home...and what it takes to get there.
Barking Water

Some things are worth the wait.
Goodnight Irene

Indigenous people have been misrepresented in film since the beginning of the Classic Hollywood Era, and people believe that Native Americans have vanished. We Are Still Here.