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How 'Reservation Dogs' sparked a Native filmmaking boom in Tulsa


Filmmakers have built on the success of the popular show to transform the Oklahoma city into the center of Native television and cinema.

Co-created by the Tulsa-based showrunner Sterlin Harjo (Muscogee, Seminole) and Oscar-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi (Māori), “Rez Dogs” tells the story of four Indigenous teenagers coming of age on a reservation in northeast Oklahoma. The show’s three seasons showcase Oklahoma’s varied landscapes, from the green Ozark hills and the rivers that flow throughout the Cherokee Nation’s 7,000 square miles, to the prairies in the central region, to the Great Salt Plains in the north and the mesas near the panhandle. He also inspired other Indigenous creatives to come to town, including writer-director Erica Tremblay (Seneca-Cayuga), who filmed the Sundance favorite Fancy Dance throughout the area with actor Lily Gladstone (NiMíiPuu, Siksikaitsitapi).

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