In the Land of the Head Hunters
In the Land of the Head Hunters (also called In the Land of the War Canoes) is a 1914 silent film fictionalizing the world of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples of the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, written and directed by Edward S. Curtis and acted entirely by Kwakwaka'wakw native people.
| In the Land of the Head Hunters | |
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Kwagu'ł girl, Margaret Frank (née Wilson) was featured in Curtis's In the Land of the Head Hunters. Here she is shown in a portrait by Curtis wearing abalone shell earrings. Abalone shell earrings were a sign of the noble class. | |
| Directed by | Edward S. Curtis |
| Written by | Edward S. Curtis |
| Starring | Maggie Frank |
| Cinematography | Edmund August Schwinke |
| Distributed by | World Film Company |
Release date | December 7, 1914 |
Running time | 65 min |
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| Languages | silent film English intertitles |
The film was selected in 1999 for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant." It was the first feature-length film whose cast was composed entirely of Native North Americans; the second, eight years later, was Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North. Most of the film was shot on the Deer Island near Fort Rupert, British Columbia. It was the first feature film made in British Columbia, and is the oldest surviving feature film made in Canada.