If the pic to your left feels like a cliche, it probally is. But that's part (and I do emphasize part of the problem-there is also the issue of story, film craft, and $$$) of the challenge when it comes to filmmaking-Hollywood and Indiewood- in the Native American community. Matthew Fliesher files an excellent update on the state of things for the LA Weekly:

“Sundance shows around 120 feature films, and only a fraction get picked up and distributed,” says Bird Runningwater, associate director of the Sundance Institute’s Native American and Indigenous Initiative. “But it does seem that, most often, Native films fall into the category of those not being picked up."

For a Native actress, positive and challenging modern roles are difficult to come by. “There’s definitely a tendency to want to dress us up in buckskin,” Podemski (a native American Actress) says.

(thanks Sujewa and Greencine for the link)