Songs My Brothers Taught Me

Story

Johnny and his 11-year old sister Jashaun live with their mother in a Native American reservation in South Dakota. Their father is a famous rodeo rider with more than two dozen children from different women. To earn money, Johnny deals in illegal alcohol. He’s saving up to leave the reservation, his girlfriend is going to college in Los Angeles in the autumn and he wants to go with her. When Jashaun learns of his plans, she is alarmed. The siblings are close, Johnny is like a father for his sister. In their different ways and in what may be their last summer together, they try to find out what really gives them strength and what is home. The film is a sensitive portrayal of the young generation of Native Americans in the USA and is marked by great performances by amateur actors.

Director

CHLOÉ ZHAO (*1982 in Peking) attended an English boarding school and studied political sciences in Massachusetts and film production at the Tisch School of the Arts in New York. FILMFEST HAMBURG showed her first two films "Songs My Brothers Taught Me" (2015) and "The Rider" (2017), which won the Art Cinema Award in Hamburg and Cannes.

Trailer