Steven Lewis Simpson’s new cover design is a brilliant depiction of the progression from freedom to confinement. The new cover is a tentative design that will grace the DVD of his Pine Ridge documentary. Steven is looking for feedback. What are your thoughts?
Victor Epp reads …
Victor Epp, the English voice of Karl May reads Winnetou I … |
Roaring Fire Films Presents …
The trailer to the epic feature documentary A Thunder-Being Nation that charts life on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation from distant past to present day life. From the director of the movie Rez Bomb also set on Pine Ridge. Support the completion of the documentary in exchange for products |
Now Constantin Film has entered the race by tapping Michael Blake of “Dances with Wolves” fame to write a new adaptation of “Winnetou”. Read more here
More information can also be read on these web sites.
Check out the project on The Internet Movie Dababase
One year has passed since Winnetou Production was founded. It was an eventful year in which many milestones were passed. We travelled much and witnessed things that a white man rarely sees. We spent time with the very people that Karl May wrote about in his Traveller Tales and we were honored with their friendship. Our mission to bring Karl May to an English speaking world is progressing well and we continue to fulfill our mission in his honor.
So, Happy Birthday, Karl!
May your work continue to live in the hearts and minds of your readers, no matter what their age.
Gojko Mitic as Winnetou
Actor Gojko Mitic (70) urged Western Europeans to greater material modesty. The American Indians are a suitable model. “One can learn a lot from Indians. They’ve taken from nature only what they needed – never more”, said Mitic, the actor of numerous Eastern block Indian films, in Leipzig on Monday …
Yes, indeed! Having spent but a short time among the American Indians I experienced their oneness with nature and their generosity. Sadly though the white man’s greed puts national interest ahead of the rights that our indigenous population should enjoy. This insidious desire to accumulate wealth is encroaching on the very territories that should be off limits. History has shown how treaties were made and broken and how our indigenous population has been driven from the very land where their ancestor’s lie buried. Mr. Mitic’s admonition should be contemplated, and Karl May’s Winnetou should also serve as an example of how we should live our lives.
Much fanfare has been made of Barack Obama’s December 16, 2010, announcement at the White House Tribal Nations Conference in Washington, D.C. Obama stated that the United States was finally “lending its support” to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples—the U.S. being the last major country on the planet to do so.
I wish that there were a more diplomatic way to say this, but the plain fact is that Obama, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, lied to the Tribal Nations Summit Conference, and to the world, on December 16. I do not relish raining on the parade of those who took Obama at his word, or to dash Indian country’s optimism that finally someone in the White House is going to change the fundamentals of U.S. indigenous policy. It is necessary, however, to face a tough reality. The United States has not, does not now, and likely will never honestly support the Declaration in its current form.
Visit Indian Country for more stimulating information.
REZ BOMB is a new feature film from film maker Steven Lewis Simpson, staring Tamara Feldman, Trent Ford, Russell Means and Chris Robinson.
Set on and around the poorest place in the USA, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Rez Bomb is a love story/thriller about a Lakota girl and a white boy who are very much in love but get themselves into trouble with a brutal money lender and time is running out fast to extricate themselves from his clutches.
Available as
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In the early hours of Monday, 7th June 2010, this year’s Sun Dance attendants erected the first teepee. Others soon followed it and the little camp grew rapidly.
At the same time, an arbor was erected, a fire-pit was dug and an inipi (sweat lodge) was constructed in the traditional manner of the Lakota people.
Tuesday was ‘tree day’ – bushy pine trees were cut and placed around the arbor frame, leaving the eastern gate open so that the rays of the rising sun could enter unhindered. Finally, the tree of life, a tall birch with a single fork was selected by the elders and ceremoniously cut down. Many willing hands caught the tree as it came down and carried it to the trailer on which it would be transported to the Sun Dance grounds.
Once the tree arrived there, those same willing hands raised it in an effort that surpassed the flag raising on Iwo Jima.
The dancers settled into their teepee and the fire, which would burn for the duration of the ceremony, was lit.
In the morning, before the sun rose, the dancers entered the inipi, cleansed their bodies and prepared to dance to the sound of a drum and the traditional songs. Solemnly they entered the arbor through the eastern gate and began their dance that would not cease until the sun had traversed the sky and touched the western horizon. They finished the day with another ceremonial cleansing and then retired for the night, denying themselves food and water.
This was repeated for the following two days, culminating on the fourth day with their final sacrifice.
