Tags Wins!
Tags wins the 2nd round of the Shadow and Act Filmmaker Challenge. Read more about it here:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/and-the-winner-of-round-2-of-the-inaugural-shadow-act-digital-filmmaker-showcase-is
+ Read more…admin
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Star of the Day: Tara J. Ryan
Tara’s been our resident go-to for casting, PR and all things native film in 2011, and we thank her from the bottom of our film-filled hearts. Learn more about her by visiting http://www.tijerlilyco.com/
Or read on here:
Tara J. Ryan (Chickasaw/Choctaw) is President and Owner of Tijer Lily Co, Tara brings a fresh approach to Native American Entertainment. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Business Administration with honors, awards and many specializations including studies of the South American, Central American and Caribbean peoples, writing in all styles (Business, Creative, Script, etc.) and video production. She is a contributing writer and Advisory Board member for NativeVue Film & Media, with many of her pieces being carried by the Native Times, America’s largest, independently-owned Native newspaper and many other artistic publications.
Her efforts having been recognized both within and beyond her Native community for an exceptional entrepreneurial spirit and a cutting edge creative style, she never stops working to find new and better ways to accomplish her goals and those of her clients. Working with the finest managers, agencies, talent, and Native organizations throughout the US and Canada, she brings the experience of nine years of work specializing in Native American Entertainment and Media to every project.Thank you Tara.
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Tags is in the 2nd Round of the Shadow and Act Filmmaker Showcase!
Tags, starring Adepero Oduye, is in the 2nd round of the Shadow and Act Filmmaker Showcase! Please take a moment and vote for Tags at:
http://www.shadowandactfilms.com/FilmmakerShowcase/survey.html
And you can check out all the films here:
http://www.facebook.com/ShadowAndActDigital?sk=app_208195102528120
Peace and Happy New Year,
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Special Boy FilmsSEO Scholars Program Teaser is Live!
Hey all-
Please check out the trailer for our new SEO Scholars Campaign. Take :30 and send us some feedback love! Thanks!
+ Read more…Special Boy Films Partners with Sponsors for Educational Opportunity
Special Boy Films is partnering with Sponsors for Educational Opportunity to produce a series of promotional films aimed at increasing awareness of and participation in its college and high school programs. A leader in eduction since its inception in 1963, SEO aims at increasing access to higher education and employment. The spots will air starting in the Spring of 2012.
+ Read more…The “Rez” Teaser is Live
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©2011 Special Boy Films. Starring, Alfred Seaboy, Jessica Redthunder, Avery Matthews and Harry Fairbanks. COMING SOON.Tags Selected for Shadow & Act Filmmaker Showcase
Tags has been selected by Shadow & Act for its filmmaker showcase and a year long online distribution deal! Tags will be competing in the semi-final round against four other films, and if selected will be shown non-exclusively online by Shadow & Act. Watch the film online for a limited time here.
+ Read more…Hello World
And welcome to the new specialboyfilms.com version 3.0. From here you’ll be able to keep up with all the latest news on our shows, film projects and commercials, as well as contact us if you need something shot really well, on time and in a well, spectacular fashion. So, have a look around. We’ll leave the light on for ya.
+ Read more…Team Rez welcomes Keith Secola!
Contemporary Native American Music – Native Folk & Blues Rock.
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Native folk & blues rocker Keith Secola is an accomplished artist: award-winning musician, master guitarist and native flute player; singer, songwriter, composer and producer. His music is familiar to thousands of fans across North America and Europe, where he’s been playing his brand of progressive music in concerts to a cult following for many years. Keith’s famous song, “NDN Kars”, is considered the contemporary Native American anthem and is the most requested song on Native radio in the US and Canada. Keith Secola is Anishinabe (Ojibwa) originally from the Mesabi Iron Range country of northern Minnesota, now residing in Arizona. He’s a member of the Anishinabe Nation of northern Minnesota and southern Ontario, Canada.
Keith Secola is a seven-time Native American Music Awards winner receiving numerous Nammy nominations in various categories. Winner: Artist of the Year, Best Linguistic Recording, Best Folk/Country Recording, Best Producer, Best Instrumental Recording, Best Blues/Jazz Recording, Best Independent Recording; with nominations for Songwriter of the Year, Record of the Year, Song/Single of the Year, Best Historical Recording.An Open Letter
Aaanin-
Over the past several weeks most of you have heard that some guy wants to shoot a film in your community, and moreover, wants to cast it entirely with people FROM your community. Some of you have been immediately receptive to the idea, and for that I thank you. It means a lot.
More than a few though have had questions. Most often:
“Who are you?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Why are you telling this story?”
and, probably more often than any other one:
“Is this for real?”
These questions are something I’ve come to understand and appreciate. After all, it’s not often that someone comes into your community without a desire to take something from it.
The truth is, this film has been over five years in the making, and started the day I got the call that Duane Meat was no longer with us. Many of you know Duane and some of you may not, but I think it suffices to say that he was a true Anishinaabe, a brilliant man who cared about his people and envisioned a future when Leech Lakers, White Earthers, Cass Lakers and Red Lakers could all point to a better future for themselves and their children, one in which all of the people had a voice, the means, and will to use it. What he envisioned was truly beautiful. And part of that vision was media, movies and film. He would always say to me: “We should go back and do something on the rez.”
I would always agree, and then we would go do something else-usually go play video games. This is what it was like while we were at Harvard together, insulated from the world. Change could wait. But we waited too long.
Fast forward to May of 2006. Duane was killed by a Sureño in Minneapolis. He was on his way back to Harvard the next semester to finish his degree in Economics and return to the rez.
Most of you know the story by now, and most of you know what he meant and means to Leech Lake. What you probably don’t know is that thousands of miles away, his passing lit fires under a lot of people. I was one of them.
A few weeks after Duane passed I had an interview at NYU Film School. It’s a foreboding place that looks something like the interior of the Deathstar, and I was nervous. After all, this was the place that Spike Lee and Scorsese, Oliver Stone and Ang Lee graduated from. But when I got into the interview room a sudden calm came over me when they asked me what film I wanted to make. Many things I didn’t know, but that one was crystal clear: this one-the film that would honor my friend.
And here we are.
The film I envisioned is a longer film, probably two hours, and it’s something that we’re developing right now. This film, about twenty-five to thirty minutes long, is the film we need to make to get to that film.
This film is not about Duane.
Rather, it’s about the young people that I’ve met in Leech Lake, and Minneapolis, people that Duane talked about when he told me stories from home, the people he devoted so much of his vision and plan to. These are strong and proud Anishinaabe, people who have not bowed even under tremendous pressure, and tremendous pain.
Pain itself has a way of taking on a life of its own, and becoming more than the sum of its parts. A large part of the pain I have felt in Cass and on the rez is that the outside world is content to pretend that this pain, and the people that go along with it, do not exist.
I don’t find this acceptable.
This film is about a main character, Daniel, who is dealing with the loss of his older brother while doing his best to be a surrogate father for his niece. He reads her bedtime stories, tries to teach her the old ways and works hard. But it is not enough. He loses his grip on his family’s trailer, and with it his last real link to their memories.
This character sets out on a journey to get this trailer back, but more than that he sets out to find some semblance of family, someone he can count on. One of the groups that attempt to offer him that sense of family is a gang.
Many people have commented on the inclusion of a gang in a movie about the rez. Some have noted that they’d rather gangs not be discussed, others that they wished the issue of gangs would be discussed more.
To this I would say that Rez is not a film about gangs. There are no drive bys or shootouts, no robberies or killings. Rather, the main character’s cousin happens to be in a gang, and offers this lifeline to his cousin, not as gateway to criminal enterprise, but rather as a group of people that look after one another.
When offered this choice the main character turns away from this cousin. He seeks help in other places. He seeks help in the form of work. He also seeks help in the form of Saundra, his girlfriend. She is a girl from tract. She is also a girl who is headed off to college. She is another of the untold stories: tales of the courage that it takes to leave everything you know for something else, go out into the unknown. It is a tale I’ve heard from many who’ve left Cass Lake and gone away and come back.
These are subjects we hope to explore more deeply in the feature length project, and for now are only touched on in the short film. It is not perfect. Not even close. But it has not been written without the consultation and advice from both elders and those in the younger generations, and it if it is not perfect, it is not for lack of effort or dedication. But it is good. Good enough that Spike Lee read the script and agreed to donate some of his hard-earned cash to help get it made.
Even still, one thing is for certain:
Some of you will like the film.
Some of you will not.
This is something I wish I could change. But I can’t.
In the end, all I can ask is that even if you end up in the latter group, I hope you see the message behind every frame. And that message is:
YOU MATTER. YOU ARE IMPORTANT.
and more than that:
YOU ARE SPECIAL.
I have been to many places on the earth, and very few of them feel like Cass Lake and the surrounding area. It is a place that is alive, and it is a place where I’ve seen miracles happen firsthand.
And all I can keep thinking is:
Duane was right.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be holding more casting sessions on Leech Lake, in Bemidji and in the cities to find and promote local talent. If you are interested in being a part of the film, please e-mail me with your picture and the part that you’re interested in at casting@specialboyfilms.com or message me here.
***If you’ve already auditioned and not gotten an e-mail from us, please e-mail me again-it is because we can’t read your e-mail address.
Please message me also if you’re interested in being part of the crew, and check http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rez/249811005043241 for updates on where we’ll be shooting, what we’re up to, and where the film is in terms of its progress to completion. You’ll also be able to comment and give feedback on clips of the movie as they’re finished and posted.
We hope you’ll continue to support Rez and the movement we’re hoping to start. There are important, beautiful stories here, and it’s time to start telling them.
Sincerely,
Dominique DeLeon
August 9, 2011
+ Read more…One of the most beautiful sequences ever shot IMHO. I hope to eschew the shaky camera long-lens aesthetic for something more composed like this. Who to shoot it?
+ Read more…2.21.11
All-Star weekend has come and gone, and we move into the new week with a full feature treatment and a thesis script that is basically the first act of a feature! Can’t wait to meet with Spike this Thursday. Wish us luck!
+ Read more…3 February 2011
So today we’re in a good place. We’ve finished an initial shooting script and have started the casting process, which will likely take place over the next two months or so. And today (drumroll) we’re meeting with Spike Lee about the project! Stay tuned for more updates, and thank you sincerely for all your support!
Love,
Team Rez
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Reporter Larry Oakes of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, grew up on Cass Lake. His family, he said moved up to Cass Lake as his father took a job at a local bank, and, as he said “were probably seen as part of the problem.”
In 2002, he and a photographer went back to the Leech Lake reservation to live for six months. Their time there resulted in a series called “The Lost Youth of Leech Lake”, a series that chronicled the stories of deep sadness and hope among the children on the reservation.
From the Star-Tribune:
“…The stories contain information from criminal court files, police reports, birth and death records, government studies, nonprofit studies, census data, newspapers, books and data provided by the state and reservation governments. They interviewed scores of teens and young adults, school officials, social workers, teachers and parents.
Oakes and Holt visited Darryl Headbird Jr. in prison several times. Oakes interviewed him, Sierra Campbell and their families extensively in person, by telephone and by letter.”
+ Read more…Max Richter Obsesssion.
A soundtrack for life. Courtesy of Max Richter and my friend Alex Lee.
+ Read more…Ever since first hearing bits of “Infra” on a BBC documentary reproduced on YouTube, I knew that I was absolutely infatuated with his score for Wayne McGregor’s ballet for the Royal Ballet.
Max Richter tweeted a link to his Soundcloud this morning where it is possible to stream the entire score….
This cannot be missed.
This is music for the soul.
Infra by max richter
6/21/10. Spending the night in my rental car, as I understand it is a fairly common thing on the rez. I look for a good spot to settle in around Cass Lake. I sleep fitfully for three hours, my frame too large for the back seat, and even with the seat reclined, blood flows into my legs causing my feet to swell. I cannot imagine doing this another night. When I return to the house the next morning, Ron matter of factly explains that before they bought this house, he and Kathryn lived in their cars for six months.
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Curtis Buckanaga is a father, artist, and leading member of Warriors for Justice, a group on the Leech Lake reservation that fights internalized oppression. In one particular run-in with the Native Mob, the largest gang on the Leech Lake reservation, he was beaten to death before being defibrillated by attending physicians.
+ Read more…The reservation boarding school system in the United States (1870-1928) was perhaps the most comprehensive attempt to date to assimilate Native peoples into the expanding United States, billed as a way to educate native children by proponents (and thus prevent costly wars along the frontier and alleviate the republic of the obligation of feeding and clothing displaced Indians) and a way to culturally eradicate native traditions by detractors. The latter view was supported by the now famous quote by Capt. Richard Pratt that the United States should endeavor to “Kill the Indian, and save the man.” The now defunct educational system persisted for nearly 50 years, before it was discontinued on the grounds of its cruelty towards children, who were forcibly separated from their families and forbidden from speaking their native tongue or maintaining any of their own customs. The idea, as outlined by Pratt, was to civilize the native population in the same way that America has civilized the African. As opposition mounted at the turn of the century, the death knell for reservation boarding schools sounded in 1928 with the publishing of the Meriam Report, which roundly criticized the system for having unqualified and indequately compensated staff, poor health care and brutal conditions. Though it failed to obliterate the cultural traditions, the reservation school system began a trend that persists today: the gradual movement of children away from their own cultural traditions, songs and teachings. Elders see it as a key to the resurgence of the people.
+ Read more…Lupe explains the etymology of People and Folkz nation better than I ever could. Peep the lyrics after the jump. [Chorus: x2]Sittin’ sideways, paused in a daze.Sittin’ sideways, paused in a daze.Sittin’ sideways, paused in a daze.On a Sunday night I might bring me some haze.[Lupe Fiasco:]I tilt mine to the left, it’s just the west side of him. Don’t ride nothing but know plenty people, peoples that ride something.Decided cousin, I should describe the lives of him.Some wise, drive Chevy’s with gold Dayton’s in the Taj of ‘em.But first let me tell you where son grown. Grew up ‘round GD, CVL’s, black soles and unknowns.Hanging hat, banging sack, slanging with guns on.Forced to drop the folks or you gotta run home.Or you gotta run anyway after you drop the folks.‘Cause they was really folks looking for somebody to jump on. Wars, lords shoot up all the corners they hung on.Hear the squeezing ring for my region brother to come home.Violations, laws, lessons, sessions and mandates.Picnic collections, lit sign throwing the handshakes. That’s why I stay, drop eyes where I play.GDN in they fades where the 150 sittin’ sideways.[Jay-Z:]You know the boy slam Bentley doors.I been riding Lexus since ‘94.Before I had a deal I was on a world tour. In a town near you showed up with raw.Fast forward a couple years I growed up some more.Closed up the store, sewed up the floor.Rose up with the charts, sold up with the 4Sold 5, sold 6, sold 30 more.Yo I’m a kilo in the game like I was before. My life repeating like words in the corridor.(Hello, hello, hello, hello)Before I open the door you let me know if you are close kinfolk with the law.If not let’s further explore.Same shit different toilet, yeah, I know you heard it before. I was the youngest of four, pop couldn’t take it no more.Stayed together for the kids they couldn’t fake it no more.[? ] in the streets I had to take me a course.Not only made me a man, it made me a boss. The world chico, maybe it’s yours.Maybe it’s your time to die, get so hardcore.Just be a man of your word, you got your word and your balls.Before you act on a word please consider the source.Please remember to floss, anyday could be yours. Death don’t discriminate; eliminates all.[Chorus: x2]Sittin’ sideways, paused in a daze.Sittin’ sideways, paused in a daze.Sittin’ sideways, paused in a daze.On a Sunday night I might bring me some haze.[Lupe Fiasco:]I seen ‘em brawl for it, right on the wall for it.Get kicked out the mall for it, run from the law for it.See things they should’ve never saw for it.Long as it’s all well, almighty, alrighty, they all for it, uh. Black hawk fitted, get hit in the jaw for it.Blue and black, joey spoken might get you applause for it.Peace treaty for like a week if chief and them call for it.100 and 50 deep and the streets saying ya’ll broke it. But what started that was a shorty walking down the ave in a starter cap.Pop said he ain’t want me having no part of that.Those happenings with th 776 e hats and things.Moved me down south now all my homies is Latin Kings. Teaching me spanish, low-rider magazines.Black and gold bandanas, tagging crowns up on the scene.That was the age kinda how Lupe was made.Homies from Packstown to Terra, New Era sittin sideways.[Chorus: x2] Sittin’ sideways, paused in a daze.Sittin’ sideways, paused in a daze.Sittin’ sideways, paused in a daze.On a Sunday night I might bring me some haze.[Lupe Fiasco:]Uh, See from you, a stranger. Pops schooled him to the L-Ruegen’s plus the Peace Stone Rangers.And as I grew up knew most of what having [? ].Disciples [? ] the ghetto boys cause they was talking to Hoover.Time versus life is all a process. Drive-by’s, gang fights and lockdowns had us scared of the projects.Couple Arab knights and solid folks I knew thought that the Moles was cool.They said Salam-Alaikum too.To my out of town friends to take off they hat. That they couldn’t wear that in the places that I was taking them to.My homies was breaking it so I was breaking it too.If they started chasing them then they was chasing me too.Probably all got cousins, brothers, sisters and loved ones. That probably die for nothing, or shaken up or something.To the mother’s that paid to the homies in the grave.Keep a glittered 150 in your memory homie sittin sideways.[Chorus:]Sittin’ sideways, paused in a daze. Sittin’ sideways, paused in a daze.Sittin’ sideways, paused in a daze.On a Sunday night I might bring me some haze.
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Across Highway 2 from tract 33, the village of Cass Lake is a major railway hub that used to be the largest switching point in Northern Minnesota throughout the earlier part of the 20th century. Today the main railway line that runs parallel to main street is a shadow of its former self, used mainly by the BNSF. The majority of business now bypasses the downtown area.
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The Native Mob is a Vice Lord affiliated gang that began in Minneapolis Minnesota in the late 80’s/early 90’s. Operating across the midwest, NM is one of the most highly organized Native gangs in existence in the US, and is generally affiliated with the People Nation gang alliance, which was founded in 1978 by Larry Fort in Joliet State Penitentiary. The founding members of the People Alliance were the El Rukns (now Black P Stones), The Latin Kings and the Vice Lords. Once affiliated with the Vice Lords, the Native Mob has now risen to become well entrenched gang of it’s own. As part of the People Nation, the native mob wears their identifiers to the left (earring in he left ear, left pant leg rolled up, bandana on the left side, etc).
+ Read more…As much as you love smoking weed, as much as you love drinking, as much as you love fighting like I do, as much as you love messing with all these girls … it’s not worth it, because.. there ain’t no love back. It ain’t love if you’re going to jail.
As much as you love smoking weed, as much as you love drinking, as much as you love fighting like I do, as much as you love messing with all these girls … it’s not worth it, because.. there ain’t no love back. It ain’t love if you’re going to jail.
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Lenny Fisherman, 22 on gangs on Cass/Leech Lake
Visiting Cass Lake for the first time in about a week to attend the S-Lake Powwow and do a little research. Excited to see the location firsthand.
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