Hello, and welcome to the Scene to Seen Podcast. I am Valerie Complex Associate editor and film writer at Deadline.
Today, we’re talking to directors Jesse Short Bull, and Laura Tomaselli about their new film Lakota Nation vs. The United States. Mark Ruffalo and Marisa Tomei serve as executive producers, while Benjamin Hedin and Phil Pinto serve as producers.
It is the most sacred place on earth, the birthplace of the Lakota that has shaped thought, identity and philosophy for the Očéti Šakówiŋ since time immemorial–the life-giving land known as the Black Hills. Yet with the arrival of the first Europeans in 1492, the sacred land has been the site of conflict between the people it has nurtured, and the settler state seeking to exploit and redefine it in its own image.
This documentary is a searing testament to the strength of the Oyate and a visually stunning rejoinder...
Today, we’re talking to directors Jesse Short Bull, and Laura Tomaselli about their new film Lakota Nation vs. The United States. Mark Ruffalo and Marisa Tomei serve as executive producers, while Benjamin Hedin and Phil Pinto serve as producers.
It is the most sacred place on earth, the birthplace of the Lakota that has shaped thought, identity and philosophy for the Očéti Šakówiŋ since time immemorial–the life-giving land known as the Black Hills. Yet with the arrival of the first Europeans in 1492, the sacred land has been the site of conflict between the people it has nurtured, and the settler state seeking to exploit and redefine it in its own image.
This documentary is a searing testament to the strength of the Oyate and a visually stunning rejoinder...
- 12/15/2023
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
In Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli’s nearly two-hour documentary, Lakota Nation vs. United States, the filmmaking duo captures the history, present and future hopes of the indigenous peoples of the Dakotas through a singular issue: land.
That issue, according to the film written and narrated by Layli Long Soldier, is at the core of practically every other Indigenous struggle since the beginnings of European, and then American, colonization. Facing down wave after wave of manifest destiny-fueled violence, the Lakota, other members of the Sioux Nation and various Native communities beyond the Black Hills have persisted, even when their cultural symbols have been carved up, their language stripped, their people assaulted, and the ever-shrinking land poisoned.
Respect for the land treaties that followed the Commerce Act of 1886, the film suggests, was tantamount to staving off the kind of extermination attempts that Indigenous communities — once recognized by the U.S.
That issue, according to the film written and narrated by Layli Long Soldier, is at the core of practically every other Indigenous struggle since the beginnings of European, and then American, colonization. Facing down wave after wave of manifest destiny-fueled violence, the Lakota, other members of the Sioux Nation and various Native communities beyond the Black Hills have persisted, even when their cultural symbols have been carved up, their language stripped, their people assaulted, and the ever-shrinking land poisoned.
Respect for the land treaties that followed the Commerce Act of 1886, the film suggests, was tantamount to staving off the kind of extermination attempts that Indigenous communities — once recognized by the U.S.
- 12/13/2023
- by Abbey White
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli’s documentary “Lakota Nation vs. United States” chronicles the Lakota Indians’ enduring quest to reclaim South Dakota’s Black Hills, sacred land stolen by the American government beginning in 1876.
Divided into three sections: extermination, assimilation and reparations, the two-hour docu is told from the point of the Lakota people and recounts how the Black Hills were taken in violation of various treaty agreements while the Indigenous community who lived there was simultaneously exploited and displaced. In addition to covering the ongoing fight to reclaim control of the Black Hills, the docu investigates the many ways that the U.S. has ignored, overlooked and failed to grapple with the historical wrongs done to Indigenous communities across the country.
“This is a story about enduring Lakota resistance and existence, but it’s also a conversation with the present,” says Tomaselli, who co-wrote “MLK/FBI.” “History repeats...
Divided into three sections: extermination, assimilation and reparations, the two-hour docu is told from the point of the Lakota people and recounts how the Black Hills were taken in violation of various treaty agreements while the Indigenous community who lived there was simultaneously exploited and displaced. In addition to covering the ongoing fight to reclaim control of the Black Hills, the docu investigates the many ways that the U.S. has ignored, overlooked and failed to grapple with the historical wrongs done to Indigenous communities across the country.
“This is a story about enduring Lakota resistance and existence, but it’s also a conversation with the present,” says Tomaselli, who co-wrote “MLK/FBI.” “History repeats...
- 7/14/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
A furious yet resiliently hopeful documentary about white America’s long and ongoing history of colonizing the Očeti Šakówin (along with the rest of this land’s indigenous people), Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli’s vital “Lakota Nation vs. United States” doesn’t waste any of its 121 minutes, but it also boasts a number of moments that effectively squeeze the film’s entire perspective into a single unforgettable image.
Chief among them: The shot of some Maga jackass at the foot of Mt. Rushmore as they greet anti-Trump protestors at the ex-president’s 2020 Independence Day event while dressed in an American flag t-shirt and holding a sign that simply reads “Fuck You.” After all, that succinct little phrase has essentially been the entire platform since America was first christened as such. At this rate, the Republican party will probably adopt it as its official slogan by 2028.
“Fuck You” was...
Chief among them: The shot of some Maga jackass at the foot of Mt. Rushmore as they greet anti-Trump protestors at the ex-president’s 2020 Independence Day event while dressed in an American flag t-shirt and holding a sign that simply reads “Fuck You.” After all, that succinct little phrase has essentially been the entire platform since America was first christened as such. At this rate, the Republican party will probably adopt it as its official slogan by 2028.
“Fuck You” was...
- 7/12/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
IFC Films is acquiring North American rights to “Lakota Nation vs. United States,” a documentary about the Lakota Indians’ quest to reclaim the Black Hills. That sacred land was stolen in violation of treaty agreements, and the film, from directors Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli, looks at the many ways that the U.S. has ignored, overlooked and failed to grapple with the historical wrongs done to Indigenous communities.
“Lakota Nation vs. United States” is narrated by and features the poetry of acclaimed Ogala Lakota poet Layli Long Soldier, winner of the National Books Critics Circle award and finalist for the National Book Award. The score is composed by Raven Chacon, recipient of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for “Voiceless Mass,” and director of photography is Kevin Phillips (“Super Dark Times”). The Lakota activists featured in the film include Nick Tilsen and Krystal Two Bulls, two organizers of today’s Landback movement,...
“Lakota Nation vs. United States” is narrated by and features the poetry of acclaimed Ogala Lakota poet Layli Long Soldier, winner of the National Books Critics Circle award and finalist for the National Book Award. The score is composed by Raven Chacon, recipient of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for “Voiceless Mass,” and director of photography is Kevin Phillips (“Super Dark Times”). The Lakota activists featured in the film include Nick Tilsen and Krystal Two Bulls, two organizers of today’s Landback movement,...
- 11/1/2022
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Documentary studio Xtr is in production on “Lakota Nation vs. United States,” the first film to chronicle the Lakota Indians’ fight to reclaim control of the Black Hills. Oglala Sioux Jesse Short Bull and “MLK/FBI” editor Laura Tomaselli direct the feature documentary, with Benjamin Hedin producing.
“Lakota Nation vs. United States” will investigate how the sacred land was stolen in violation of treaty agreements and feature interviews with Indigenous citizens.
The film is executive produced by Mark Ruffalo, author and activist Sarah Eagle Heart, Kathryn Everett and Bryn Mooser from Xtr. Sales will be handled by Cinetic Media, who are also working on the film’s financing.
Short Bull is a 2016 Sundance Institute Native American and Indigenous Program Development Grant recipient and a board member of the Black Hills Film Festival. Interview subjects include Nick Tilsen and Krystal Two Bulls, activists who founded South Dakota’s #landback movement.
“It...
“Lakota Nation vs. United States” will investigate how the sacred land was stolen in violation of treaty agreements and feature interviews with Indigenous citizens.
The film is executive produced by Mark Ruffalo, author and activist Sarah Eagle Heart, Kathryn Everett and Bryn Mooser from Xtr. Sales will be handled by Cinetic Media, who are also working on the film’s financing.
Short Bull is a 2016 Sundance Institute Native American and Indigenous Program Development Grant recipient and a board member of the Black Hills Film Festival. Interview subjects include Nick Tilsen and Krystal Two Bulls, activists who founded South Dakota’s #landback movement.
“It...
- 9/21/2021
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
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