Arnold rescued Thomas from a fire when he was a child. Thomas thinks of Arnold as a hero, while Arnold's son Victor resents his father's alcoholism, violence and abandonment of his family.Arnold rescued Thomas from a fire when he was a child. Thomas thinks of Arnold as a hero, while Arnold's son Victor resents his father's alcoholism, violence and abandonment of his family.Arnold rescued Thomas from a fire when he was a child. Thomas thinks of Arnold as a hero, while Arnold's son Victor resents his father's alcoholism, violence and abandonment of his family.
- Awards
- 15 wins & 8 nominations
- Lester Fallsapart
- (as Leonard George)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe first movie to be written, directed, and co-produced by Native Americans.
- GoofsThere is no way that one bus driver could have driven the same bus continuously from Idaho to Arizona. Federal law would prohibit it.
- Quotes
Thomas Builds-the-Fire: How do we forgive our fathers? Maybe in a dream. Do we forgive our fathers for leaving us too often, or forever, when we were little? Maybe for scaring us with unexpected rage, or making us nervous because there never seemed to be any rage there at all? Do we forgive our fathers for marrying, or not marrying, our mothers? Or divorcing, or not divorcing, our mothers? And shall we forgive them for their excesses of warmth or coldness? Shall we forgive them for pushing, or leaning? For shutting doors or speaking through walls? For never speaking, or never being silent? Do we forgive our fathers in our age, or in theirs? Or in their deaths, saying it to them or not saying it. If we forgive our fathers, what is left?
- Crazy creditsAny similarity to actual persons, living, dead, or indigenous, is purely coincidental.
The premiere was at an old, Egyptian-themed cinema in Seattle and the house was half full for the 4:30 matinee. The audience was predominately Native American.
On exit, Sherman stood on the sidewalk in the late afternoon Seattle light and waited nervously like a child, to see the reaction to the film (which had ended with unanimous applauds from the half house audience). A film crew was there for exit polling.
A diminutive Native American female elder slowly approached Sherman. She moved forward and extended her arms around him into a hug and spoke softly, "Thank you."
Sherman was mush.
Don't miss this film. He's not 'the Spike Lee of Native American film making' as the Time Magazine of that week put it. He's an independent, regional film maker, whose background is the 'Rez.'
- pablo-45
- Jun 2, 1999
- How long is Smoke Signals?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $2,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $6,745,362
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $43,574
- Jun 28, 1998
- Gross worldwide
- $6,745,362
- Runtime1 hour 29 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1