20th Anniversary of "Smoke Signals"

As discussed by Nick Clement on Variety, two days ago, the film Smoke Signals celebrated its 20th anniversary. This was a groundbreaking film, being the first ever theatrical released film written, directed and produced by Native Americans. This movie was incredibly important in providing an on-screen and realistic representation of the incredibly marginalized community of Native Americans in modern media. Unfortunately, there has not been huge strides in Native American representation in the 20 years following the film. However, it definitely at least gave a framework for how to non-stereotypically present Native Americans in a creative and diversified way. The issue of symbolic annihilation is incredibly heavily weighted on Native Americans, in that by invisibilizing their communities, our inherent colonialism is better hidden.