Rez Film Club: Powwow Highway
Directed by
Jonathan Wacks
SHOWTIMES
Movies start 6-8 minutes after listed showtime
Thu 5/21: 7:00p FREE
RELEASE DATE
5/21/26
RATING
R
RUN TIME
1h28min
Rez Film Club is presented by the Native Circle Advisory Board at Circle Cinema and proudly sponsored by the Flint Family Foundation and Cherokee Film. This month, see a 'Rez-trospect' with the classic 1989 Powwow Highway starring Gary Farmer, back on the big screen for one night only!
All admission to Rez Film Club events are FREE and open to the public, plus one FREE small popcorn for each person! Seating is first come, first served.
About the film: 1h28min - Drama, Road Movie - Rated R - English
Originally released in 1989, Powwow Highway received tremendous acclaim and was pivotal in the movement of films beginning to take a more authentic approach to Native stories on screen. At Sundance the film won the Filmmakers Trophy and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. For his turn as Philbert, Gary Farmer won Best Actor at the 1989 American Indian Film Festival and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Powwow Highway was selected for preservation in 2024 by the Library of Congress National Film Registry.
Buddy Red Bow (A Martinez) is struggling, in the face of persecution, by greedy developers and political in-fighting, to keep his nation on a Montana Cheyenne Reservation financially solvent and independent. Philbert (Gary Farmer), a simple-minded friend of Buddy's, ardently pursues Native American/First Nation wisdom and lore wherever he can find it--even on Bonanza--in order to earn his warrior name. He's even got his war pony, Protector: a beat-up old wreck of a car. Buddy's sister has been arrested in Santa Fe, and together Buddy and Philbert set off on a road trip to look after her kids and go bail her out. However, Bonnie's arrest has something strange about it as her friend Rabbit points out. As the miles roll by, Philbert's faith challenges Buddy's hard-edged view of the world (and occasional bout of reckless violence), and together they face the realities and dreams of being Cheyenne in the modern-day US as they fight to free Bonnie and her children and elude the Feds.
