Independent Lens
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World
The story of a profound, essential, and, until now, missing chapter in the history of American music: the indigenous influence.
Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian
Kemosabe? Loincloths, fringed pants, and feather headdresses? Heap big stereotypes. Reel Injun is an entertaining trip through the evolution of North American Native people ("The Indians") as portrayed in famous Hollywood movies, from the silent era to today. Jim Jarmusch, Clint Eastwood, Graham Greene, John Trudell, and… Show more
- Series
- Independent Lens
- Premiere Date
- November 2, 2010
- Length
- 60 minutes
Director
Neil Diamond
One of Canada's foremost Aboriginal filmmakers and photographers, Neil Diamond hails from the Cree community of Waskaganish. His recent credits include The Last Explorer, a feature-length docudrama retracing the steps of his great uncle, Aboriginal guide George Elson, on an ill-fated voyage into the heart of uncharted Labrador. Neil also directed… Show more
Producer
Christina Fon
Producer
Catherine Bainbridge
Director/Writer/Executive Producer/Producer, on Rumble, and Cofounder of Rezolution Pictures and Minority Media. She has brought her signature enthusiasm and passion for storytelling to countless documentary, drama, comedy, and interactive media projects, notably the Peabody award-winning documentary Reel Injun, about Native stereotypes in… Show more
- Other ITVS Films
- Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World
Producer
Linda Ludwick
We fund untold stories for public media.
Learn more about funding opportunities with ITVS.
The Film
Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond takes a look at the Hollywood Indian, exploring the portrayal of North American Natives through a century of cinema. Traveling through the heartland of America, and into the Canadian North, Diamond looks at how the myth of "the Injun" has influenced the world's understanding — and misunderstanding — of Natives.
Reel Injun traces the evolution of cinema's depiction of Native people from the silent film era to today, with clips from hundreds of classic and recent Hollywood movies, and candid interviews with celebrated Native and non-Native film celebrities, activists, film critics, and historians.
Diamond meets with Clint Eastwood (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; A Fistful of Dollars; Unforgiven) at his studios in Burbank, California, where the film legend discusses the evolution of the image of Indians in Westerns and what cowboy-and-Indian myths mean to America. Reel Injun also hears from legendary Native American activists John Trudell, Russell Means, and Sacheen Littlefeather.
Celebrities featured in Reel Injun include Robbie Robertson, the half-Jewish, half-Mohawk musician and soundtrack composer (Raging Bull, Casino, Gangs of New York); Cherokee actor Wes Studi (Last of the Mohicans, Geronimo), filmmakers Jim Jarmusch (Dead Man) and Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals); and acclaimed Native actors Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves, Thunderheart) and Adam Beach (Smoke Signals, Clint Eastwood's Flags of our Fathers). Diamond also travels North to the remote Nunavut town of Igloolik (population: 1,500) to interview Zacharias Kunuk, director of the Caméra d'or-winning The Fast Runner.
Diamond takes the audience on a journey across America to some of cinema's most iconic landscapes, including Monument Valley, the setting for Hollywood's greatest Westerns, and the Black Hills of South Dakota, home to Crazy Horse and countless movie legends. It's a loving look at cinema through the eyes of the people who appeared in its very first flickering images and have survived to tell their stories their own way.
