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There is a disturbing phenomenon of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women across the United States, where Native women all too frequently disappear and little is done to find them. The Showtime documentary series Murder in Big Horn, which made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, shines a spotlight on several cases in Big Horn County, Wyoming, where the actions of law enforcement are severely lacking and the circumstances full of unsettling elements.

I had the chance to speak with directors Razelle Benally and Matthew Galkin about their collaboration on this show and telling a story that isn’t typically in focus. We also talked about showing the film in the context of Sundance and the boldness of touching on internal struggles within Native communities that might reflect poorly to outsiders.

You can watch the video above, and read below for an official summary and where to watch.

 

Series summary:

Within the past decade, dozens of young Indigenous women and girls from the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Nations have disappeared from Montana’s Big Horn County and its surrounding areas. Grieving Native families who fear the worst press local law enforcement for answers, but their pleas are most often met with silence or indifference. Arrests in these cases are rare, and convictions are virtually nonexistent. Elsewhere in America, similar stories of disappearances and death shock communities and become nationwide news, but when they occur on Native land, a circle of bereft family members, friends, and activists are left to fight for justice on their own. MURDER IN BIG HORN intimately embeds with these families and this community in an effort to shine a light on the unanswered mysteries of this land.

Check out more of Abe Friedtanzer’s articles.

Murder in Big Horn will make its SHOWTIME debut on demand and on streaming Friday, February 3 and on-air on Sunday, February 5 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.