Sterlin Harjo

Directing

Sterlin Harjo

Born

1979-11-14 (46)

Place of birth

Holdenville, Oklahoma, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

25 titles

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 fil…

Known for

Film credits

2020s · 3 titles

2010s · 2 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

Rez Ball poster
6.4

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

2024

Scalped poster
NR

A modern day crime story set in the world of a Native American Indian reservation, and explores power, loyalty, and spirituality in a community led by the ambitious Chief Lincoln Red Crow, as he reckons with Dashiell Bad Horse who has returned home after years away from the reservation.

Scalped

2017

Barking Water poster
6.1

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

2009

Barking Water poster
6.1

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

2009

Goodnight Irene poster
10.0

Some things are worth the wait.

Goodnight Irene

2005

Goodnight Irene poster
10.0

Some things are worth the wait.

Goodnight Irene

2005

Four Sheets to the Wind poster
4.7

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

2007

Four Sheets to the Wind poster
4.7

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

2007

Gather poster
6.7

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

2020

Mekko poster
6.6

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

2015

Mekko poster
6.6

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

2015

Mekko poster
6.6

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

2015

This May Be the Last Time poster
8.0

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

2014

This May Be the Last Time poster
8.0

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

2014

Little Chief poster
7.3

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

2020

No artwork available
NR

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

2018

Love and Fury poster
8.0

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

2020

Love and Fury poster
8.0

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

2020