Talking Feather

“For filmmaker Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Creek), making his stories feel real is crucial. The connections he made in the homeless community of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Harjo is from, were real. So were the images, places and stories that all came to inspire his latest film, ‘Mekko’. Harjo describes the film as a thriller. T. Coleman, Native People Magazine

Scene from film Mekko

Excerpt: Sterlin Harjo’s “Mekko” By Travis Coleman, Native Peoples

“Shot in Tulsa, Harjo’s third feature film reflects the city sights and sounds—alongside other varied influences. It’s a story about Mekko, a parolee trying to rebuild his life after 19 years in prison for murder. He seeks redemption in confronting Bill, a cruel and possibly supernatural influence on the homeless community…The Muscogee story of the estekini (pronounced sta-genn-ee), an evil witch or shape-shifter, influenced the film. It’s kind of like our tribe’s boogeyman, Harjo says…While in Tulsa, Harjo began hanging with homeless people from his neighborhood and found many of them were Native Americans who had formed a community for themselves on the outskirts of society.

View  Mekko Trailer HD:

To play the title character, Harjo cast stuntman Rod Rondeaux (Crow)…Bill was played by Zahn McClarnon (Hunkpapa Lakota)… For the film, the actors worked alongside homeless people of downtown Tulsa, whom Harjo had met in a soup kitchen. Despite almost no major film-studio backing, Harjo has found success on the festival circuit and isn’t seeking to create films that could be considered commercially viable. That, he says, would feel gross.”

“If you spend your time talking about yourself, you lose sight about what your art is…I just constantly work … and try to tell stories.”~ Sterlin Harjo~

O’siyo. Full of intrigue, mystery, and culture (both old and new) The Jingle Dress is a Native film about an Ojibwe family  and their move from the rural White Earth Band Indian Reservation to the urban environment of Minneapolis. The uncle of John Red Elk has mysteriously died, and the family needs to find out what happened to him. Through the family’s eyes we gain insight into an ancient, indigenous society, and learn values from a new one. ICTNM interviewed one of the stars Stacey Thunder.

Chaske Spencer, S’Nya Sanchez-Hohenstein, Mauricimo Sanchez-Hohenstein, and Stacey Thunder as the Red Elk family in ‘The Jingle Dress.’ Photo courtesy The Jingle Dress.

Excerpt: Packed House: Actress Stacey Thunder on ‘The Jingle Dress’ Sneak Preview Screening. ICTNM

“On Saturday, April 5, The Jingle Dress made its debut in a sold-out sneak preview screening at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival. The film stars Stacey Thunder, Kimberly Guerrero, Chaske Spencer and Steve Reevis. “The screening went great and there was definitely a packed house — chairs were added in the very back of the theater,” says Thunder, who took a few moments to discuss the film with ICTMN.”

Sisters Janet (Kimberly Guerrero) and Elsie (Stacey Thunder) share a laugh in a scene from The Jingle Dress.

ICTNM: What’s The Jingle Dress about?

It’s a contemporary story of a Native American family who move from their rural home on the reservation in northern Minnesota to the faster paced urban environment of Minneapolis. I play Elsie, the mother of the Red Elk family. She is the backbone of the family and loves them dearly. She is very strong, yet sensitive and looks to her husband John (Chaske Spencer) and sister Janet (Kimberly Guerrero), for support.  She worries about her family as they experience their new life in Minneapolis.

By most accounts, women’s Jingle Dress Dance has its roots in some part of Ojibwe country. St. Albert Gazette.

ICTNM: What is the significance of the jingle dress to the story?

Its healing power. After Elsie tells her daughter Rose the story of the dress while making it for her, Rose wears and dances in the dress in order to help her family.

ICTNM: You worked with Chaske Spencer, who’s one of the most accomplished Native actors in recent times, what was that like?

It was great! Chaske is a nice guy and fun to work with. In fact, there were a lot of smiles and laughs on set because everyone, including our amazing crew, got along so well.

Jingle Dress dancers at a White Earth Reservation powwow. MinnPost photo by Steven Date.

ICTNM: For better or worse, it seems most films about the contemporary Native experience have an educational element — seeking to help people outside Native culture gain some understanding of it. Is there an element of that going on in this film?

The Jingle Dress shows a real side to our lives today — that we are still here and still very real. And by watching the Red Elk family, viewers get to learn about one unique Indigenous culture and tradition, which is very important, but that they’ll also see Native peoples are also human beings like them who have and share the same feelings, hopes, dreams, goals and challenges. Read more…

Kudos to the cast and supporters of this wonderful film!

 “ There are several slightly different versions of the Jingle dress’s origination story. One is that the first dress was made for a very sick girl by a medicine man, who saw the dress in a vision. The dress was made and the sick girl was healed by dancing in the dress. This dress is considered sacred by many people. It  is often called a “medicine dress”.  ~Ojibway~

Read about The Legend of Talking Feathers /Talking Sticks

O’siyo. Holt Hamilton produced one of the most successful Native films entitled, “More Than Frybread” (2012). The story is about five Native Americans representing different tribes, who are the best in their communities at making frybread.  The film follows the  five contestants as they prepare and compete in the ultimate frybread challenge.The story is warm, funny, and full of Native culture. In March 2014, Holt will recreate this wonderful story in a T.V./Web series entitled “Frybread”.

Frybread Association TV Web series.

Excerpt: The World Wide Frybread Association lives on in new TV/Web Series

“The pilot TV episode of “Frybread” is sixty-percent completed, and features several cast members from the movie More Than Frybread. The release of the pilot by Holt Hamilton Productions (HHP) could very well be the first TV series based on Native American sitcom. The original movie released in 2012 was screened in more than fifty reservations throughout the U.S. and Canada. The release of “Frybread” is scheduled for mid-March 2014.

Mr. Donathon Littlehair (actor J.W. Washington): “Frybread needs me.” YouTube.

The series takes off with the World Wide Frybread Association, founded in 2005, in peril with bankruptcy and litigation nipping at its heels. Donathan Littlehair (actor J.W. Washington), who is naturally thin on top, conjures up a means to save the organization with the aid of humorous and colorful characters from various Native American tribes.

Poster for More Than Frybread. Photo- GilaRiver.

Producer Travis Holt Hamilton, a non-native, has completed five films that encompass comedy and drama with a Native American slant. Hamilton’s inspiration to create and present Indian-style entertainment was energized at a screenwriter’s workshop in Los Angeles.

The film Pete & Cleo also produced by Holt Hamilton. Photo- Frybread.

The goal of the pilot episode is to establish Season One, which will consist of 13 episodes. Holt Hamilton Productions foresees filming the series in various tribal communities that will aid in opening doors for aspiring actors and technical staff of Native American heritage.”

VIDEO CLIP: FryBread T.V. Series

Link Frybread 

Congratulations to the actors and to Holt Hamilton for producing such great films.

“I want Native country to collaborate with me in delivering positive content to a starving Native audience that is tired of Hollywood’s control on how the world should view Native American imagery.” ~Holt Hamilton~