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Restored Film Gives Life to Native American Story A landmark film about the lives of Native Americans in 1950s Los Angeles has been given a new life. Thanks to the efforts of filmmaker Charles Burnett and award-winning author Sherman Alexie, the 1961 film The Exiles has been restored. Burnett and Alexie speak about the film's significance and relevance more than 40 years after its release.

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Restored Film Gives Life to Native American Story

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Restored Film Gives Life to Native American Story

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The Exiles film has been restored and is currently touring the country. Milestone Film & Video / Milliarium Zero hide caption

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Milestone Film & Video / Milliarium Zero

The Exiles film has been restored and is currently touring the country.

Milestone Film & Video / Milliarium Zero

Written and produced by acclaimed filmmaker Kent McKenzie, The Exiles tells the story of a group Native Americans living in Los Angeles during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Notably, the film is set in the gritty, once grand Victorian neighborhood of Bunker Hill, embraced by the movie's three main characters as home.

The Exiles never achieved the theatrical release McKenzie hoped for before his death in 1980. But the 1961 film has been restored, and the UCLA Film and Television Archive is giving the film new life.

Filmmaker Charles Burnett and award-winning author Sherman Alexie speak about the film's significance and relevance more than 40 years after its release. The Exiles is currently touring the country.

Watch the movie trailer for The Exiles

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