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Standing Silent Nation

Courtney Hermann, Suree Towfighnia

Standing Silent Nation
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About

What does a family have to endure to create a future for itself? 

When the Oglala Sioux Tribe passed an ordinance separating industrial hemp from its illegal cousin, marijuana, Alex White Plume and his family glimpsed a brighter future. Having researched hemp as a sustainable crop that would grow in the inhospitable soil of the South Dakota Badlands, the White Plumes envisioned a new economy that would impact the 85% unemployment rate on the Pine Ridge Reservation. They never dreamed they would find themselves swept up in a struggle over tribal sovereignty, economic rights, and common sense. 

From the hemp fields of Pine Ridge to the US Federal Court of Appeals, the one-hour documentary Standing Silent Nation tracks one family's effort to create economic independence for themselves, their reservation, and their future generations. The hemp plant is like a new buffalo for the Lakota: a resource whose many uses from food to fuel to fiber, could enrich their sovereign nation. For three years, Alex White Plume and his family planted industrial hemp. But each year, their harvest was disrupted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which claims that hemp is marijuana despite the absence of marijuana's psychoactive properties. 

Standing Silent Nation challenges contemporary notions of Native America, while providing a compelling and engaging story rarely covered in mainstream media.


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Subjects:

Indigenous Studies:

Regions:

Credits

This film is made possible with the support of Native American Public Telecommunications, the Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media, the Playboy Foundation, and many others who have donated to the project over the years.


SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Global Green Indigenous Film Festival, Santa Fe, NM 2008

Breckenridge Festival of Film, 2008

Human Rights Justice Festival, 2008

First Peoples' Festival Montreal Native Film & Video Showcase, 2008

Talking Stick Film Festival, 2008

Red Rock Film Festival of Zion Canyon, 2008

Art & Tur International Film Festival, 2008

Society for Visual Anthropology/American Anthropological Association Conference, San Francisco, 2008

International Festival of Films on Tribal Art & Culture, India, 2008

Quebec International Ethnographic Film Festival, Canada, 2008

Honorable Mention Best Documentary, Accolades Awards, 2007

Stony Award for Best Documentary of the Year, High Times Magazine, 2007

Pare Lorentz Award Nominee, International Documentary Association, 2007

Taos Mountain Film Festival, 2007

Austin Film Festival, 2007

Maryland Film Festival, 2007

Palm Springs Native American Film Festival 2007

Takoma Park Film Festival, MD, 2007

Glenn & Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center, Hillsboro, OR, 2007

Missoula Hempfest, Missoula, MT, 2007

POV National Broadcast on PBS, 2007

Solstice Shakedown: Black Hills Sustainable Living Festival, Sturgis, SD, 2007 

Reeltime Independent Film & Video Forum, Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL, 2007

Film for Thought Series, Transitions Bookplace, Chicago, IL, 2007

Hemp Hoe Down, Elkview Campground Near Sturgis, SD, 2007 

Maryland Film Festival The Charles Theater, Baltimore, MD, 2007

Jerusalem Project Screening, Wheaton College, IL, 2007

Pre-Release Screening and Fundraiser, Columbia College, Chicago, IL, 2007

Pre-Release Screening, Johnson State College, Johnson, VT, 2007

Palm Springs Native American Film Festival, 2007

Pre-Release Screening and Fundraiser, Hollywood Theater, Portland, OR, 2007

Special Sneak Preview Screening, Native Voice Film Festival, Rapid City, SD 2006

Pre-Release Screening, Mt. Carmel Lutheran Church, Portland, OR, 2006


Standing Silent Nation


Directed by 

Suree Towfighnia


Cast 

Alex White Plume 

Deborah White Plume 

Ramona White Plume 


Produced by 

Courtney Hermann


Music by 

Andrew Shapiro


Editing by 

Sharon Karp


Sound Department 

Courtney Hermann


Other crew 

Mark Beattie


Thanks 

Kari Fosse






Supported by: