Sherman Alexie

The first major film written by, directed by and starring American Indians, Eyre's "Smoke Signals" premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and carried off the Audience Award and the Dramatic Filmmaker's Trophy. Capturing the dark comedy of reservation life, where broken-down cars run only in reverse and men theorize about the reason John Wayne's teeth are not visible, it follows two males who leave "the rez" on a road trip of personal enlightenment. The filmmakers hope to do for Indians what Spike Lee's "She's Gotta Have It" did for African-Americans in terms of inspiring would-be Native filmmakers to believe in themselves. Considered one of the top 20 novelists under 40, Alexie plans to keep mixing movies and literature, aspiring to a career like that of the multi-talented John Sayles. In 2002, his directorial debut, "The Business of Fancydancing," loosely based on his book of poetry and short stories, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.