Did you know it wasn’t Marlon Brando who accepted his Oscar for Best Actor for “The Godfeather” at the 1973 awards show?

The On the Red Carpet blog points out that it was Sacheen Littlefeather who stepped on stage.

Brando had been a longtime supporter of Native American rights, and became involved with the American Indian Movement. The actor wanted to make a statement about the Wounded Knee incident in 1973 as well as to voice his discontent with Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans in film and television.

American Indian Rights activist Sacheen Cruz Littlefeather attended the ceremony and rejected the Oscar on his behalf. Littlefeather appeared at the ceremony dressed in Apache attire.

On the Red Carpet pinned Brando’s statement as one of its “great moments in Academy Awards history.”

Watch the video of Littlefeather’s acceptance on behalf of Brando here.

Jenna Cederberg

Paleo Super Bowl snacks — The caveman game plan
See if you can wait until this afternoon to start whipping up some of the goodies suggested by ICTMN contributer David Bender.

In a story on ICTMN this week, Bender describes how to make a Paleo warrior, caveman style feast for the big game.

That means we’re going commando—no bread, no buns and no sugar.

So with that I give you something we all crave: food you can eat with your hands! That’s right football fans, sans fork and spoon.

Now, what would a Super Bowl party be without chips and appetizers? In this article I have suggestions for snacks (sweet potato chip), appetizers (paleo patties), a condiment (guacamole) and an entree (ribs).

Bender’s post includes a shopping list and recipes. OK, it’s time to get to the kitchen . . .

Funny film gives a unique look at frybread
This week’s second brunch tidbit also involves work in the kitchen.

Have a look at this “frybread “mockumentary” piece featured on Azfamily.com. Stacey Delikat takes us through a synopsis of the funny film.

“More than Frybread” is the brainchild of Mesa filmmaker Travis Holt Hamilton.

The movie follows members of twenty-different Native American tribes as they seek to compete in the made-up “Worldwide Fry Bread Association” competition in Flagstaff.




Courtesy of AZFamily.com.


Hamilton, who has made four other films about Native Americans, says he got the idea for the mockumentary after spending time living on a reservation as a missionary.

“Numerous people have made frybread, everyone claiming their bread is the best,” he explained. “So we thought, let’s kind of play that up and have a competition that these tribes are competing for the championship title.”

To learn more about the film visit Frybreadmovie.com.

Jenna Cederberg

Incredibly happy to pass along this update on Russell Means, diagnosed this summer with deadly throat cancer:

By Jesse Abernathy, Native Sun News Editor:

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – In a remarkable turn of events, actor and American Indian activist Russell Means says he has defeated throat cancer.

This reversal of fortune is nothing short of a miracle. Means was diagnosed this summer with what was then essentially referred to as incurable, or inoperable, esophageal cancer. His physician gave him mere days to live at the time, he said. “The prognosis was grim,” Means told Tom Lawrence of the Mitchell Daily.

In a Dec. 8 telephone interview from his seasonal home in Scottsdale, Means spoke in a clear, robust voice – a stark contrast to his last Native Sun News interview in August, when his tones were made fragile and husky by the disease.

“I won the battle, man – I’m cancer-free,” he declared victoriously. “The doctor told me the day before yesterday that ‘Mr. Means, you will not die of cancer’.”

The triumph in Means’ voice was unmistakable.

Means, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, partially attributes his amazing recovery to the outpouring of support – in the form of supplication – from all of the multifaceted corners of the globe.

“I beat it with prayer – prayer from all over the world from all the different disciplines,” he said.

“And Indian prayer,” Means added. “Indian prayer and Indian medicine,” he said, in referencing his primary spiritual and cultural connection to his Lakota brethren.

Read the rest of this entry »

Really nice piece on what it takes to get “real people” portrayals or depictions of Natives in movies from the Alaska Public Radio Network: Listen to interview/audio by Shane Iverson here. Well- known actors such as Drew Barrymore star in the film, which was shot in Alaska.

The movie production “Everybody loves Whales” has received a lot of attention in Alaska for actually being shot in Alaska. The film is based off an incident in 1988 when three gray whales became trapped in sea ice near Barrow. When Alaskans go see the movie one thing they’ll be watching for is how they’re portrayed.

Iverson, from KYUK in Bethel, spoke to the Alaskan actors in the film to see what it was like be part of the production and to find out what they think it could mean for the State’s first peoples.

Jenna Cederberg

Actor Chaske Spencer (Lakota Sioux tribe, and raised on Indian Reservations in Montana and Idaho) has found success in Hollywood.

The actor is currently starring as a Native werewolf in the vampire love story series, “Twilight,” which is hyped and popular. The role is “huge” he admits. His plate is full too in the upcoming months: He’s going to do “Winter in the Blood,” the Montana author James Welch novel, among other movie projects.

With the foundation of the success coming after an all-too-familiar notorious ride to Hollywood – he’s says it was and is his traditional beliefs that need to be the constant.

Because “Hollywood has a very short memory,” he says, and predicts that as a Native American, securing roles will continue to be a struggle. His conversation with Racebending.com contributor Gabriel Canada focuses on how his career path is never too far from his roots.

He also with Racebender addresses poverty, his astonishment at being “here” coming from a reservation and his production company, Urban Dream.

RACEBENDING.COM: In previous interviews you’ve talked about the fact that statistically, you shouldn’t be “here.” Can you elaborate for those unfamiliar with life on a reservations what those statistics are, and what you meant by that?

CHASKE SPENCER: Coming from a reservation, the chances of people getting out and becoming successful are pretty rare. The people who do, it’s almost like jumping off a waterfall: you just jump and see if you land, and we will see if you’re okay, but at least you made the jump.

When I talk about giving back to the community, I think it’s a responsibility for myself to do that. I’ve experienced a lot, living on reservation. There is poverty and abuse–physical, domestic and sexual. A lot of people don’t know that.

It’s not just to raise an awareness, but also I can’t do it alone–some actor getting on a stage as a PSA. The people in the family structure, in their own homes, have to take up for themselves, take responsibility. I could just be a broken record playing over and over again.

I had people like that come to my school when I was growing up, and it did have an influence on me, but it’s really up to the people themselves to do something about it. There is only so much someone can do to raise awareness, but if I can inspire someone to do that–to maybe make a change in their life–then I think I’ve done my job. But it’s not easy.

Being in the spotlight as a Native American actor, you’re already being put on a pedestal as being a role model, which I don’t think anyone really ever wants. You’re thrust on there anyway, so you might as well make do with it what you can. But I’m not a perfect angel.

Here’s a few bites of news from the previous week, enjoy:

C&A Tribes create Oklahoma’s first educational tribal TV station
A conversation between old friends in 1992 has now turned into a TV station that is the first educational tribal channel. It will serve the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma.
As reported from a press release on the Native American Times, key to the completion of the project was Billy-Talako Williamson, who worked for 28 years to bring the station to life.

The Federal Communications Commission issued an experimental license to the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes and on September 27th, 2010 the tribes received notice that they had been awarded a grant for construction of the Cheyenne & Arapaho Television Station.”

U.S. Attorney Cotter unveils Indian Country Crime Unit
This story on the Missoulian’s webpage details a new force that will be used to help Indian reservations prosecute crimes. Montana U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter’s office met with several tribes in Montana to introduce the unit.
A press release from the District of Montana detailed which assistant district attorneys will make up the Indian County Crime Unit in the state:

The newly created Indian Country Crime Unit is comprised of six Assistant United States Attorneys, three of whom are filling new positions afforded by the Department of Justice in conjunction with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s initiative to focus on improving public safety in Indian Country nationally. The Unit is headed by veteran Indian Country Assistant United States Attorney Lori Suek (Billings). The team is comprised of attorneys Vince Carroll (Great Falls), Jessica Betley (Great Falls), Danna Jackson (Helena), Laura Weiss (Great Falls), and Mike Wolfe (Helena).

New documentary recounts bizarre climate changes seen by Inuit elders
We had a lot of movies on the Post recently (there are a lot of Native issues being brought to life on screen these days) as it coincides with Toronto’s imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival.
Here’s one more the check out: A subject in the documentary “Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian,” soon-to-run on PBS, acclaimed Nunavut filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk takes a look at the effects of global warming on Natives in northern Canada. “Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change,” with environmental scientist Ian Mauro.
Their findings are bleak, as reported by the Globe and Mail in a piece that ran before the documentary was screened. You can find a trailer for “Inuit Knowledge” with the story.

Canadian filmmaker Neil Diamond, Cree, will debut his latest work, “Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian,” on PBS on Nov. 2. The work is a look at the portrayal of Indians in films from the silent era to present day.
According to Native News Today, Diamond tells of his exposure to certain portrayals in films and how he didn’t find himself identifying with Indians.

Throughout the film, Diamond meets with Clint Eastwood (“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” “A Fistful of Dollars,” “Unforgiven”) at his studios in Burbank, Calif., 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 Marlon Brando’s notorious Oscar-night proxy Sacheen Littlefeather.

“Reel Injun” also features 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 traveled north to the remote Nunavut town of Igloolik (population – 1,500) to interview Zacharias Kunuk, director of the Camera d’Or-winning “The Fast Runner.”

Here’s another can’t-miss documentary “A Good Day To Die” on Native issues, more specifically the AIM movement. “Good Day” has already garnered several awards and co-director Lynn Salt e-mailed me last week that there’s more cause for the buzz:

We just won another “best documentary” award at the International Cherokee Film Festival in Tulsa, OK! – Lynn Salt

Jenna Cederberg

First Nations vow to block Nanaimo terminal
The Snuneymuxw First Nation says it will turn to the courts in its flight to block construction of a $22-million cruise ship terminal at Nanaimo, near Vancouver. Chief Doug White tells the Vancouver Sun he will go to mediation because the Nanaimo Port Authority is not taking seriously his people’s concerns over the protection of the Nanaimo River Estuary.

Navajo Supreme Court suspends college president
Dine College president Ferlin Clark has been ordered to suspend work until Sept. 21, under a Navajo Supreme Court ruling last week. The Navajo Times reports that the court also released a has released the 172-page investigate report on Clark’s conduct that confirms allegations of “pervasive harassment” and favoritism.

Program helps Native American engineers
North and South Dakota are taking part in a five-year program that aims to recruit American Indian students to become engineers are hoping some of them will return home to help their communities, according to the Rapid City Journal in South Dakota. A $4.8 million National Science Foundation grant funds the program to link four-year engineering schools with community colleges.

Play based on Louise Erdrich novel debuts
Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater last night debuted “The Master Butchers Singing Club,” a play based on the novel of the same name by heralded Anishinaabe author Louise Erdrich. As the Associated Press writes, “the stage adaptation of Erdrich’s novel is by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Marsha Norman. It follows the lives of numerous residents of a small North Dakota town between the first and second World Wars.” Read more at Playbill.com.

Not making this up – Whale rescue film touted as romantic comedy
From the Anchorage Daily News’ rural blog, The Village, comes a delicious tidbit about how Universal Pictures is promoting its whale-rescue movie that will feature several Alaska Natives Seems like the movie will more true to Hollywood than true to life.

Gwen Florio

Here’s a good interview on RaceBending.com by Gabriel Canada with actress Tantoo Cardinal, who does not mince words when it comes to the challenges of being a Native actress in a film industry dominated by non-Natives.

RaceBending is the group that came into being after the outrage over ethnic roles in movies – specifically for Middle Eastern characters in “Prince of Persia” and Asian and Inuit characters in “The Last Airbender” went to Caucasian actors. (See previous post here.)

Cardinal – a Canadian Metis actress who appeared in “Smoke Signals” and “Dancing With Wolves,” among many, many others – insists that “It’s essential that we continue to tell our stories. It’s not enough for us to be the backdrop.”

Canada describes the depth of Cardinal’s experience:

On December 30th, 2009, Cardinal was made a Member of the Order of Canada “for her contributions to the growth and development of Aboriginal performing arts in Canada, as a screen and stage actress, and as a founding member of the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company.”

It’s a great interview with an impressive woman. Check it out.

And, in the video above, Cardinal talks about her role in “Older Than America,” Georgina Lightning’s film about the atrocities perpetrated upon many Native children in boarding schools. Yet another movie to put on the “to watch’ list.

Gwen Florio