Films & Events

Directed by Chris Eyre and written by Sherman Alexie, Smoke Signals is a landmark coming-of-age comedy-drama and the first feature-length film written, directed, and produced by Native Americans to reach a wide audience in the U.S. and abroad. Based on Alexie’s short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, the film follows Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) and Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams) as they journey off the Coeur d’Alene Reservation to collect Victor’s father’s ashes, confronting family history, friendship, and identity along the way.

Celebrated for its authenticity, humor, and lyrical storytelling, Smoke Signals was widely acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. It earned the Filmmaker’s Trophy and Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, as well as numerous honors at international film festivals, and was praised for its “unpretentious, funny and soulful” portrayal of Native life (San Francisco Chronicle). In 2018, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

A pioneering achievement in Native cinema and an enduring story of reconciliation, Smoke Signals remains a groundbreaking and beloved classic.

Sponsored by the SC Commission for Minority Affairs for Native American Heritage Month.

1998. 89 min.