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weekend watch

The beauty of the queer spirit: Four excellent Indigenous-focused narratives to stream this weekend

By Lee Meyer June 21, 2024 at 10:00am
A scene from Wildhood. (Photo: Hulu)

Welcome to your weekend streaming recommendations, a.k.a. the Weekend Watch, a handy guide to the queerest film and TV content that’s just a click away!

Lily Gladstone, one of this year’s Pride50 honorees, stars in the powerful drama Fancy Dance, which hits theaters this week and will launch on Apple TV+ on June 28. In director Erica Tremblay’s film, Gladstone plays Jax, a Seneca-Cayuga woman who cares for her niece, Roki (Isabel DeRoy-Olson) after the disappearance of Jax’s sister. When Jax learns she might lose custody of Roki to her father, the two go on a road trip in search of her mother.

Indigenous people are underrepresented in the media, and queer Indigenous people even moreso, with Fancy Dance an all-too-rare example. But in the past few years, an exciting crop of storytellers have emerged, bringing queer, Native voices to our screens. And many of these stories focus on characters who identify as two-spirit—someone who identifies as having masculine and feminine spirits—a part of our broader LGBTQIA2S+ community.

Read on for queer, Indigenous-focused films and TV shows to stream this weekend.

Wildhood

In this beautiful 2021 coming-of-age film by Bretten Hannam, a young man, Link (Phillip Lewitski), yearns for a better life away from his abusive father (Joel Thomas Hynes) in their run-down trailer park home. When Link finds out that his mother, who is of Mi’kmaq heritage, may be alive, he goes on a journey to find her. Along the way, he meets the two-spirit Pasmay (Joshua Odjick), who he begins to fall for. Wildhood is gorgeously shot and features excellent performances, as well as an interesting exploration of what it means to be queer and Indigenous.

Now streaming on Hulu.

Frybread Face & Me

Frybread Face & Me, directed by Billy Luther, is a sweet coming-of-age film starring Keir Tallman as Benny, a young Navajo (or Diné) teen who is sent to stay with his grandmother (Sarah H. Natani) and cousin Dawn “Frybread Face” (Charley Hogan) over the summer of 1990. While Benny is not in touch with his Native heritage at all, he comes to learn and appreciate it over the course of the summer. Benny is also not-so-subtly queer and slowly comes of age throughout the film.

Now streaming on Netflix.

Reservation Dogs

This acclaimed series, created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, follows a group of rebellious Indigenous teens in Oklahoma on a reservation for the Muscogee Nation. They are led by Elora Danan Postoak (played by queer actor Devery Jacobs), who joined the show’s writers room in the second season and even directed an episode in the third, final season. The funny and heartfelt series beautifully delves queer themes throughout, with characters who are given space explore their identities and sexualities.

Now streaming on Hulu.

Drunktown’s Finest

Director Sydney Freeland’s (who recently helmed the Marvels eries Echo) 2014 film follows three young Indigenous people—trans Felixia (the late Carmen Moore), Nizhoni (Morningstar Angeline), and SickBoy (Jeremiah Bitsui)—all of whom strive for something more than their current situations. Felixia wants to be a model, Nizhoni is raised by an adoptive white family and wants to learn more about her heritage, and SickBoy is expecting a child and wants to join the military. Drunktown’s Finest is an often-biting film, but has a stirring story, excellent performances and an interesting look into what it means to be trans in a native community.

Available to rent digitally on Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, Apple TV and Fandango At Home.

The Kicker…

It may surprise you to know that there’s an incredible video game that explores the Indigenous communities of Alaska and stars a trans man, voiced by trans actor August Aiden Black. Tell Me Why is a fascinating mystery game about twins who reunite in Alaska to deal with their late mother’s affairs. The main character, Tyler, deals with the conservative community he grew up in, while reckoning with his mother’s death.

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One Comment*

  • shva08

    Reservation Dogs is excellent. Highly recommend. I’ll check out the others.

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