Fritz Bitsoie is an award-winning Diné/Navajo filmmaker based in Los Angeles, CA. His latest film, Through The Storm, co-directed with Charles Frank, premiered at the 2024 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, where it clinched the Best Artistic Vision award. The film, produced in collaboration with Voyager and Gnarly Bay, was created in partnership with Nike's N7 Initiative and made its broadcast debut on the NFL Network in November 2024.
His previous film, The Trails Before Us, was featured at numerous film festivals across the nation, including SXSW, SFFilm, Seattle International, Mountainfilm, AIFF, and Big Sky Doc Film Festival, where it also took home the Best Artistic Vision award. It was an official selection for the Native Cinema Showcase at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian.
In 2023, Fritz was selected as a Fellow for the 4th World Media Lab, which supports indigenous filmmakers. He also serves on the jury and programming teams for documentary film festivals across the U.S., lending his unique perspective to the selection process.
A University of New Mexico alumnus who grew up on the Navajo Nation, Fritz describes himself as a film geek at heart, raised on a steady diet of sci-fi, horror, and martial arts VHS tapes. He loves to incorporate elements from genre films to focus on stories that explore themes of cultural significance within the modern Native American experience.