On July 14, 2023, IFC Films released “Lakota Nation vs. United States” from directors Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli. The documentary has received rave reviews from critics, resulting in a perfect score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Featuring interviews with Indigenous citizens, the film chronicles how the Lakota Indians fight to reclaim control of the Black Hills, and investigates how the sacred land was stolen in violation of treaty agreements. Read our full review round-up below.
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David Ehrlich of IndieWire writes, “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...
See Uninterrupted Film Festival: ‘Black Ice’ executive producer Maverick Carter on empowering athletes to tell their stories [Complete Interview Transcript]
David Ehrlich of IndieWire writes, “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...
- 7/15/2023
- by Vincent Mandile
- Gold Derby
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
Click here to read the full article.
Lakota Nation vs. United States is a visually dynamic documentary, and it’s also one that delves into the power of language and how we use it. There are the voices of interview subjects — sensitive, piercing, anguished, hopeful — relating a generations-long fight for justice that goes to the core of American history and yet is barely discussed in classrooms. (Have you ever heard of the Dakota 38?) There’s the legalese of treaties the U.S. government signed with the tribes of the Great Plains and violated before the ink was dry — or as soon as gold was discovered in designated Indian territory.
The filmmakers’ interest in language pervades Lakota Nation, most exquisitely in its use of poetry as narration, with an extraordinary poet, Layli Long Soldier, reading excerpts from her work onscreen and in voiceover. She and a strong chorus of interviewees explore the...
Lakota Nation vs. United States is a visually dynamic documentary, and it’s also one that delves into the power of language and how we use it. There are the voices of interview subjects — sensitive, piercing, anguished, hopeful — relating a generations-long fight for justice that goes to the core of American history and yet is barely discussed in classrooms. (Have you ever heard of the Dakota 38?) There’s the legalese of treaties the U.S. government signed with the tribes of the Great Plains and violated before the ink was dry — or as soon as gold was discovered in designated Indian territory.
The filmmakers’ interest in language pervades Lakota Nation, most exquisitely in its use of poetry as narration, with an extraordinary poet, Layli Long Soldier, reading excerpts from her work onscreen and in voiceover. She and a strong chorus of interviewees explore the...
- 6/22/2022
- by Sheri Linden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Just as colonists forcibly displaced Indigenous people centuries ago, Native Americans have also been long maligned by an American film industry in which ugly stereotypes have persisted. Even today, Native artists struggle to carve out mainstream spaces for expression. It is against that troublesome backdrop that filmmakers such as Sterlin Harjo operate, bent on taking control of the Native narrative and “normalizing” the variety within the experience, even if incrementally.
That’s certainly what he’s achieved in 2021, with both the successful first season of FX’s “Reservation Dogs” (already renewed for a second season) and freewheeling new film “Love and Fury.” The Oklahoma-based Harjo’s fifth feature film, it’s a globetrotting documentary that follows Native artists as they navigate their careers, finding camaraderie with Indigenous people everywhere.
“I think there is a humanizing that we as Native Americans have to do for non-Native people, as we’re trying...
That’s certainly what he’s achieved in 2021, with both the successful first season of FX’s “Reservation Dogs” (already renewed for a second season) and freewheeling new film “Love and Fury.” The Oklahoma-based Harjo’s fifth feature film, it’s a globetrotting documentary that follows Native artists as they navigate their careers, finding camaraderie with Indigenous people everywhere.
“I think there is a humanizing that we as Native Americans have to do for non-Native people, as we’re trying...
- 12/8/2021
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
The Sundance Institute’s Interdisciplinary Program today named its 2021 grantees, also unveiling those selected as 2021-2022 Art of Practice Fellows. Each fellow and grantee was supported in a designated field or a combination of them, including emerging media, interdisciplinary, music, and/or theater.
Sundance’s latest grantees are Melis Aker (Theater), Shariffa Ali (Interdisciplinary), DeAndre James Allen-Toole (Music), Fabian Almazan (Music), Lily Baldwin (Interdisciplinary), Mariam Bazeed (Interdisciplinary), Carla LynDale Bishop (Emerging Media), Kathryn Bostic (Interdisciplinary), William Caballero (Interdisciplinary), William Calhoun (Interdisciplinary), Raven Chacon (Interdisciplinary), Penelope Jagessar Chaffer (Emerging Media), Layale Chaker (Interdisciplinary), Maya Chami (Interdisciplinary), Heather Christian (Theater), Cora Yi-Huan Chung (Music), Ryan Cohan (Music), Colectivo Los Ingrávidos (Interdisciplinary), Ty Defoe (Interdisciplinary), Heather Dewey-Hagborg (Emerging Media), Angèlica Ekeke (Emerging Media), JJJJJerome Ellis (Interdisciplinary), Tim Fain (Music), Kelley Nicole Girod (Theater), Ben Goldberg (Music), Robert Casey Goodwin (Interdisciplinary), Fernando Gregório (Interdisciplinary), Porpentine Heartscape (Interdisciplinary), Dov Heichemer (Emerging Media), Sultana Isham (Interdisciplinary...
Sundance’s latest grantees are Melis Aker (Theater), Shariffa Ali (Interdisciplinary), DeAndre James Allen-Toole (Music), Fabian Almazan (Music), Lily Baldwin (Interdisciplinary), Mariam Bazeed (Interdisciplinary), Carla LynDale Bishop (Emerging Media), Kathryn Bostic (Interdisciplinary), William Caballero (Interdisciplinary), William Calhoun (Interdisciplinary), Raven Chacon (Interdisciplinary), Penelope Jagessar Chaffer (Emerging Media), Layale Chaker (Interdisciplinary), Maya Chami (Interdisciplinary), Heather Christian (Theater), Cora Yi-Huan Chung (Music), Ryan Cohan (Music), Colectivo Los Ingrávidos (Interdisciplinary), Ty Defoe (Interdisciplinary), Heather Dewey-Hagborg (Emerging Media), Angèlica Ekeke (Emerging Media), JJJJJerome Ellis (Interdisciplinary), Tim Fain (Music), Kelley Nicole Girod (Theater), Ben Goldberg (Music), Robert Casey Goodwin (Interdisciplinary), Fernando Gregório (Interdisciplinary), Porpentine Heartscape (Interdisciplinary), Dov Heichemer (Emerging Media), Sultana Isham (Interdisciplinary...
- 10/28/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
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