Sterlin Harjo

About

Sterlin Harjo belongs to the Creek and Seminole Nations, and is a native of Holdenville, Oklahoma.  Interested from an early age in visual art and film, Harjo studied painting at the University of Oklahoma before writing his first feature-length script, An Indian on the Moon.  He has since studied screenwriting under Andrew Horton in the University of Oklahoma's Film and Video Studies Program. 

Harjo recently completed a year of development on his feature film script Four Sheets to the Wind through the Sundance Institute’s Filmmaker Labs where he worked under the guidance of industry veterans such as Robert Redford, Stanley Tucci, Joan Tewkesbury, Susan Shilliday, Frank Pierson, Walter Mosley, and Antonia Bird.  Sterlin’s project was one of 12 projects chosen from a pool of almost 2,500 based on the uniqueness of his voice, the originality of his story and the promise of this feature film offering something poignant to American cinema.

Most recently, the Sundance Institute selected Harjo to receive an Annenberg Fellowship which will provide extended support over a two-year period to facilitate the creation of his project.  Harjo has directed three short films: Crooked Little Heart, They’re Playing His Song, and Goodnight, Irene.  Goodnight, Irene was a selection of the Sundance 2005 Film Festival as well as of the Berlin, Tribeca, Seattle, Aspen Shorts Fest, and LA Film Festivals.