Navajo | |
Director: | Norman Foster |
Producer: | Hall Bartlett |
Starring: | Hall Bartlett Francis Kee Teller |
Music: | Leith Stevens |
Cinematography: | Virgil Miller |
Editing: | Lloyd Nosler |
Studio: | Bartlett Foster Productions |
Distributor: | Lippert Pictures |
Runtime: | 70 minutes |
Country: | United States |
Language: | English |
Navajo is a 1952 American fictional drama film directed by Norman Foster. It was nominated for two Academy Awards: for Best Documentary Feature (although it's not a documentary[1]) and Best Cinematography.[2] The Academy Film Archive preserved Navajo in 2012.[3] [4]
It is a story about "Son of the Hunter", a seven-year-old Navajo boy whose father abandoned the family, then his de facto grandfather dies. When he goes to the trading post to get help, he is captured by the authorities and is forced to attend a reservation boarding school. While there, his mother and one of his two sisters die of an undiagnosed malady. He escapes from the school and returns to the wilderness to try to live an independent life.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association presented 8-year-old actor Francis Kee Teller with an honorary award at the 1953 Golden Globe Awards[5]
The film was restored by Kit Parker Films in 2020 and released on home video for the first time. The release includes a 1952 documentary called Our Navajo Neighbors.[6]