Talking Feather

“Twelve-year-old Quinton Kien is not exactly your typical Hollywood actor but he blew this one out of the water. As the voice of the title character in the Navajo version of Disney Pixar’s Finding Nemo, Kien made quite an impression on his grandmother Julia Hildreth.” Donovan Quintero, Navajo Times

Quinton Kien is helping Disney-Pixar create a Navajo language version

Excerpt:   12-year-old shines in new Navajo-dubbed Pixar film, Donovan Quintero, Navajo Times

“Nizhoní, said Hildreth, of Steamboat, Ariz., at the premiere on Monday night in Albuquerque at the Century Rio 24 theaters. Kien played the voice of “Nemo” in this latest installment where the Navajo Nation Museum collaborated with Hollywood executives to dub the movie in Navajo. The first film to be dubbed in Navajo, Star Wars, was done in 2013.

Actor Quinton Kien.

This project was different from Star Wars, said Navajo Nation Museum Director Manuel Wheeler. There was a lot of dialogue and emotion aimed towards children and that was what we were looking for. With the way it was received on Monday, Wheeler said the first screening went beautifully. The audience seemed to react to it.”

Nemo Há’dèístíí/ Finding Nemo is now on DVD

If you think this trailer is awesome, wait till you see the whole movie!! The Nemo Há’déést’įį’ DVD’s are coming!! Pre-order at navajonemo.com or come to the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, AZ on TUESDAY APRIL 26 at 8AM to purchase your copy!!  For more info call  NNM at 928.871.7941.

 “ Nemo Há’déést’íí” : With some elders in the audience, I think the benefits of making this movie is they can watch this with their grandchildren,.” ~Manuel Wheeler.~Navajo Nation Museum Director 

“According to Native actor Wes Studi, who has portrayed a plethora of historic Native American figures in films and television – his latest role as the Native American mystical character of Kaetenay is one of the most fun and refreshing roles he’s played in a long time…his character’s involvement from the start will be a show-stopper.” V. Schilling ICTMN

Wes Studi as Kaetenay in Penny Dreadful. Photo- nightling13.

Excerpt: Wes Studi Talks About His Latest Role  in Showtime’s Penny Dreadful, Vincent Schilling ICTMN

VS: How’s the show been for you?

Wes Studi: Penny Dreadful has been a refreshing and wonderful experience. I’m in every episode of the most recent season except for one. There are nine episodes. It is a really fun script and certainly a departure from things I have done before – aside from the fact that I’m playing Apache again. [laughs] I haven’t had this much fun on a series for a good long while.

Wes Studi in Trailer for Penny Dreadful season 3.

VS: Your character seems to walk a fine line between campy and dramatic. You look like you are having a blast.

Wes Studi:  [laughs] Well, I guess it shows, then. This has been an opportunity to reach outside of reality and jump into that fantasy realm. I have never really done this type of work that sits within that realm of Bram Stoker with vampires, Dorian Gray and the magic and mystery of good and evil. To me, this is the closest to Shakespeare that I have done.

Scene from Penny Dreadful season 3- trailer

VS: The great thing about this show is that it has introduced you to a new fan base in the science-fiction, com-icon and cos play world, How has that been?

Wes Studi:  I have begun to see this on social media and I have been to a comic-con. It is fabulous and I have to say that fan base is fantastically wild and weird.

WATCH:You tube: Penny Dreadful Season 3 Teaser 1 | SHOWTIME | 2016

Penny Dreadful, the Showtime series based on historical horror figures such as Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Dorian Gray:  Season 3 Premiere: Sunday, May 1, 2016  at 10 PM ET/PT

“…whenever you enjoy doing something, I believe It really shows.”  ~Wes Studi~

“When a row erupted over the lack of diversity among this year’s Oscar nominations, nobody was more surprised – or pleased – than Sonny Skyhawk. An actor for almost 40 years and the founder of the advocacy group American Indians in Film and Television (AIIFT), Skyhawk may also be the first and only Native American member of the Motion Picture Academy…He intends to wear his war bonnet on the red carpet.” T. Walker Independent News-UK

Sonny Skyhawk has appeared in more than 50 movies photo: Robert Ulrich

Excerpt: Sonny Skyhawk…vows to give his people a voice in Hollywood by Tim Walker, Independent News-UK

“We’ve become used to hearing the same boiler-plate answer from people high up in Hollywood: ‘Yes, we understand; we’re going to make changes,’  Skyhawk said of his own efforts to promote inclusion in film. But those changes were minuscule, if they were made at all. Now, at last, it has become a crisis in the entertainment industry, which is more than I could have wished for.

Native Americans remain the only major ethnic group in the US never to have won an Oscar. Just two native performers have ever been nominated, the last being Canadian First Nations actor Graham Greene in 1991, for Dances With Wolves.

Native actor Graham Greene Dances with Wolves 1990

Skyhawk was invited to join the Academy in 2015 and this will be his first Oscar ceremony…American Indians are better represented than usual at this year’s awards: several native performers appear in the  Best Picture nominee The Revenant.

Native actor Arthur Redcloud in The Revenant

The Revenant is the only 2016 film that stars Native actors.

Skyhawk voted for the film and its star, Leonardo DiCaprio, but native people have always been secondary characters. Dances With Wolves was supposed to be about natives, but ended up being about Kevin Costner. The Revenant’s the same.

Sonny Skyhawk phot- ICTMN

Now in his sixties, Skyhawk, a citizen of South Dakota’s Rosebud Sioux tribe, began acting as an extra on television Westerns such as Bonanza, in an era when many American Indians were played by white people in make-up, speaking gibberish instead of genuine tribal dialects.

AIIFT Poster

He has appeared in more than 50 movies, but for the past 35 years has channelled much of his energies into activism. The AIIFT was founded in 1980, when the Western genre was going out of fashion and the number of jobs for Native American actors was dwindling. The organisation’s mission, he said, is to give his people a voice within the industry.”

“Everyone sees us as heathens on horseback, when in reality we’re doctors, lawyers, cab drivers – the same as mainstream America… But young people [in the native community] say they don’t see themselves represented on screen, so when I talk to them about becoming lawyers or getting a college education, they can’t imagine themselves in that mainstream. That’s unacceptable.” ~Sonny Skyhawk~

Don’t Miss Sonny Skyhawk on the red carpet:

“Leonardo DiCaprio accepted the Golden Globe at the 2016 Golden Globes 73rd awards ceremony for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture his role in the film Revenant… he took a moment to thank the Indigenous community involved in the making of the film. ‘I want to share this award with all the First Nations people represented in this film and all the indigenous communities around the world.’ V. Schilling, ICTMN

Forrest Goodluck as Hawk in The Revenant. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Excerpt: DiCaprio Shares Golden Globe …with First Nations People Vincent Schilling, ICTMN

“During his acceptance speech DiCaprio paid the customary respects by thanking all of the cast and crew and his parents – and as the music began to play to usher him off the stage, he took a moment to thank the Indigenous community involved in the making of the film.

Native actor Duane Howard as Elk Dog in film Revenant. Photo-theprovince

Duane Howard and Melaw Nakehk’o both star in film The Revenant. Photoedgyk.

It is time that we recognize your history and that we protect your indigenous lands from corporate interests and people that are out there to exploit them.

Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant PA:Twentieth Century Fox

The Revenant is a retelling of the life of the real Hugh Glass (DiCaprio). In the early 1820s a group of about 45 American trappers are camping in a wilderness forest in what is now Montana. They are a fractious and grim bunch. Their Hugh Glass is accompanied by his grown son, Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), whose murdered mother was a Pawnee Indian. More than 30 men are killed when Indians attack. Their chief Elk Dog (Duane Howard) is searching relentlessly for his daughter Powaqa (Melaw Nakehk’o) whom he believes was kidnapped by trappers. Glass, his son and a few of the men survive.  Glass is attacked by a mother grizzly bear trying to protect her cub. It is a horrid attack, made worse when Glass wounds the bear. Glass is barely alive when his men find him. A “revenant” is the spirit or soul of a dead person who appears to the living…”

“It is time that we heard your voice and protected this planet for future generations.”  ~Leonardo DiCaprio~

“Native Americans and Zombies will come together on this Friday’s episode of the SyFy channel’s Z Nation. The SyFy series, which portrays a post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies, will feature Native actors protecting their homelands in an episode entitled, We Were Nowhere Near the Grand Canyon.” V. Schilling ICTMN

ZNation. Photo ZNation website

Excerpt:  Native Americans AND Zombies… Vincent Schilling, ITCNM

“Z Nation, a television series on the SyFy Network that portrays a cast of zombie-fighters who must transport a virus survivor from New York to California in an attempt to find a zombie cure, will be joined by Native actors Eddie Spears, Gene Tagaban, Tonantzin Carmelo, Tinsel Korey and Jeff Barehand.

Scene from ZNation. Photo ZNation website

Juan Mas, the director of ZNation told ICTMN they had discussed doing an episode featuring Indian Country previously but things didn’t work out. We wanted our cast to travel to the Grand Canyon and we wanted to introduce a Native American element Mas told ICTMN.

Youtube clip: Z Nation “We Were Nowhere Near the Grand Canyon”

ZNation. Photo-solarmovie.is

In any production that portrays a culture, there can be assumptions made so we worked closely with Native actors to tell us if we did anything that might be offensive.  Mas says the story will focus on the relationship of a Native father (portrayed by Gene Tagaban) a Native son (Eddie Spears) and other family members and friends (Tonantzin Carmelo, Tinsel Korey, and Jeff Barehand.”

“Even though we are a production that likes to make fun of itself, we wanted to maintain respect for Native culture. I am a minority myself as a Cuban and Colombian,” ~ Juan Mas~ Director of ZNation

For more information Visit ZNation website

“Our Hearts go out to the families of the innocent victims and to the people of Paris”

Hand written notes lie among flowers and candles at the French Embassy-

O’siyo. Russell Means,  a member of the Oglala Sioux  crossed over at the age of 72, on Monday October 22, 2012.  He was an Activist, Writer, and Actor. Some Natives claimed he caused trouble for American Indians and compared him to Old Man Coyote or the Trickster. Others worshipped him as a Warrior who drew national attention to the injustices  suffered by American Indians. Either way, Russell Means is an historic figure who will be remembered by all.

The Warrior- His Autobiography.

Excerpt:  Russell Means, Who Revived Warrior Image of American Indian, Dies at 72, By Robert D. McFadden, The New York Times

“Russell C. Means, the charismatic Oglala Sioux who helped revive the warrior image of the American Indian in the 1970s with guerrilla-tactic protests that called attention to the nation’s history of injustices against its indigenous peoples, died on Monday at his ranch in Porcupine, S.D., on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He was 72. The cause was esophageal cancer, which had spread recently to his tongue, lymph nodes and lungs, said Glenn Morris, Mr. Means’s legal representative. Told in the summer of 2011 that the cancer was inoperable, Mr. Means had already resolved to shun mainstream medical treatments in favor of herbal and other native remedies…Mr. Means was, by his own account, a magnet for trouble — addicted to drugs and alcohol in his early years, and later arrested repeatedly in violent clashes with rivals and the law. He was tried for abetting a murder, shot several times, stabbed once and imprisoned for a year for rioting.

Photo TRT

He styled himself a throwback to ancestors who resisted the westward expansion of the American frontier. With theatrical protests that brought national attention to poverty and discrimination suffered by his people, he became arguably the nation’s best-known Indian since Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.

But critics, including many Native Americans, called him a tireless self-promoter who capitalized on his angry-rebel notoriety by running quixotic races for the presidency and the governorship of New Mexico, by acting in dozens of movies — notably in the title role of “The Last of the Mohicans” (1992) — and by writing and recording music commercially with Indian warrior and heritage themes.

He rose to national attention as a leader of the American Indian Movement in 1970 by directing a band of Indian protesters who seized the Mayflower II ship replica at Plymouth, Mass., on Thanksgiving Day. The boisterous confrontation between Indians and costumed “Pilgrims” attracted network television coverage and made Mr. Means an overnight hero to dissident Indians and sympathetic whites…Russell Charles Means was born on the Pine Ridge reservation on Nov. 10, 1939, the oldest of four sons of Harold and Theodora Feather Means…Russell attended public schools in Vallejo and San Leandro High School, where he faced racial taunts, had poor grades and barely graduated in 1958. He drifted into delinquency, drugs, alcoholism and street fights. He also attended four colleges, including Arizona State at Tempe, but did not earn a degree…Mr. Means retired from the American Indian Movement in 1988, but its leaders, with whom he had feuded for years, scoffed, saying he had “retired” six times previously.

They generally disowned him and his work, calling him an opportunist out for political and financial gain. In 1989, he told Congress that there was “rampant graft and corruption” in tribal governments and federal programs assisting Native Americans…”