Cree director Neil Diamond brings a wry and slightly mischievous wit to this insightful and entertaining documentary that traces the evolution of the powerful images of "the Indian" in Hollywood movies"

These images have influenced the understanding (and misunderstanding) of North American Natives in almost every corner of the world and have locked the North American natives into powerful stereotypes, from which they only recently started to break loose.

With clips from classic and modern films, candid interviews with famous Native and non-Native directors, writers, actors, and activists such as Clint Eastwood, Robbie Robertson, Wes Studi, Adam Beach, Graham Greene, John Trudell and Russell Means, as well as documentary sequences, where filmmaker Diamond guides us through the contemporary Native stereotyped and non-stereotyped landscape. REEL INJUN is a smart and entertaining exploration of pop culture, America's myths and Hollywood's fantasies about the "Indians of the Wild West".

ABOUT THE FILM

Hollywood has made over 4000 films about Native people; over 100 years of movies defining how Indians are seen by the world.

Reel Injun takes an entertaining and insightful look at the Hollywood Indian, exploring the portrayal of North American Natives through the history of cinema.

Travelling through the heartland of America, Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond looks at how the myth of “the Injun” has influenced the world’s understanding – and misunderstanding – of Natives.

With candid interviews with directors, writers, actors and activists, including Clint Eastwood, Jim Jarmusch, Robbie Robertson, Sacheen Littlefeather, John Trudell and Russell Means, clips from hundreds of classic and recent films, including Stagecoach, Little Big Man, The Outlaw Josey Wales, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Atanarjuat the Fast Runner, Reel Injun traces the evolution of cinema’s depiction of Native people from the silent film era to today.

FEATURING INTERVIEWS WITH

Clint Eastwood is a living Hollywood legend with a string of classics behind him as an actor and director. He has directed such films as The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Unforgiven (considered by many to be one of the best Westerns of all time), Million Dollar Baby and Flags of our Fathers. As an actor, he has starred in many contemporary classics including A Fistful of Dollars, Dirty Harry, and High Plains Drifter.

The definition of an American indie filmmaker, Jim Jarmusch has directed the Camera d’Or winning Stranger Than Paradise,  Night on Earth, Coffee and Cigarettes, Broken Flowers, Ghost Dog and Dead Man, starring Johnny Depp.



Acclaimed film and TV actor Adam Beach is a member of the Saulteaux First Nations from the Dog Creek Reserve in Manitoba. His recent credits include the TV mini-series Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, for which he won a Golden Globe Award. He starred in Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers and learned Navajo for his role in another high-profile WWII drama, John Woo’s Windtalkers. Adam’s major motion picture roles also include Bruce McDonald’s Dance Me Outside and Chris Eyre’s Smoke Signals.



Native American activist and actress Sacheen Littlefeather was catapulted into the world spotlight in 1973, when Marlon Brando was awarded the Oscar for his portrayal of Don Corleone in The Godfather. Brando asked Sacheen to present his Oscar speech and focus attention on the treatment of American Indians and the siege at Wounded Knee. Active in the Native American Bay Area community, Sacheen was one of the original occupiers on Alcatraz Island protesting civil rights violations against Indian people and is co-ordinator of the Kateri Prayer Circle in San Francisco.



Russell Means is one of the best-known and most prolific activists for the rights of Native Americans Indians. Thirty years ago, he led the historic 71-day takeover of the sacred grounds at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Today, he has instituted programs for the betterment of his people, including the Porcupine Health Clinic and KILI radio, the first Indian-owned station. He has also built thriving careers in screen acting, film and television production, and music recording.



Jesse Wente has been the weekly film critic for CBC Radio for nearly a decade. He also appears on Q, CBC Radio’s national arts and culture show, and is seen regularly on TVO’s Saturday Night at the Movies. Jesse is a programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival as well as the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. He is also president of Native Earth Performing Arts, Canada’s oldest Aboriginal theatre company.



John Trudell is an acclaimed poet, recording artist, actor and activist. Trudell (Santee Sioux) was a spokesperson for the Indian of All Tribes occupation of Alcatraz Island from 1969 to 1971. He then worked with the American Indian Movement (AIM), serving as Chairman of AIM from 1973 to 1979. Since 1983, Trudell has released 12 albums featuring his own unique mix of poetry, Native music, blues and rock. Trudell has also acted in a number of feature films, including Thunderheart.



Native American comedian Charlie Hill received the 2009 Ivy Bethune Tri-Union Diversity Award for his work in breaking many stereotypes about Native and non-Native Americans. He was featured in the Showtime special The Indian Comedy Slam, No Reservations Needed in November 2009. Charlie starred in the documentary On and Off the Res’ w/ Charlie Hill, which was broadcast on PBS. He has appeared with such comedy stalwarts as David Letterman and Jay Leno, and his acting credits include the TV series Moesha and Roseanne.



Chris Eyre is a Cheyenne/Arapaho filmmaker. Smoke Signals, his first feature film, was one of the five highest-grossing independent films in 1998. A classic story of a man coming to terms with his father, Smoke Signals won the Audience Award and Eyre received the Filmmaker’s Trophy at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. His other films include A Thief of Time and Skinwalkers, based on the novels of Tony Hillerman, the award-winning Edge of America, and the short film A Thousand Roads for the Smithsonian’s National Museum for the American Indian. Eyre also directed several episodes of PBS’ acclaimed history series American Experience. His next feature, A Year in Mooring, will be released in 2011.

Reel Injun is produced by Rezolution Pictures in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada in association with CBC News Network.

2010 SKÁBMAGOVAT, Finland

2010 Available Light Film Festival, Canada

2010 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, USA

2010 Palm Springs Native American Film Festival, USA

2010 Martha's Vineyard Film Festival, USA

2010 SXSW Film Festival, USA

2010 Bradford International Film Festival, UK

2010 Bermuda International Film Festival, UK

2010 International Festival of Films on Art, Canada

2010 Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival, Canada

2010 SAPATQ'AYN Cinema, Russia

2010 Sámi Film Festival, Norway

2010 Sprockets: Toronto International Film Festival For Children, Canada

2010 ViewFinders International Film Festival for Youth, Canada

2010 Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival, Australia

2010 Polar Lights International Film Festival, Russia

2010 Seattle International Film Festival, USA

2010 Wairoa Maori Film Festival, New Zealand

2010 Sedona International Film Festival, USA

2010 Webster Film Series, USA

2010 Gimli Film Festival, Canada

2010 Minneapolis Park Board free summer movies series, USA

2010 Celebration of First Nations, Canada

"Funny and shocking."
Brian D. Johnson, MACLEANS

“Entertaining and informative.”
Greg Ursic, VANCOUVER URBAN WEEKLY

“Reel Injun cuts through clichés.”
Craig Takeuchi, STRAIGHT.COM

“This was a movie that needed to be made.”
Katherine Monk, THE VANCOUVER SUN

“James Cameron really should have watched Reel Injun before letting Avatar make its way to the big screen.”
Vanessa Farquharson, THE NATIONAL POST

"Smart, funny, insightful and hugely entertaining."
Todd Brown, TWITCHFILM.NET

"Another small victory in the quest to undo a century of stereotypes."
Deana Sumanac, CBC NEWS

“Wonderful…entertaining and thoughtful.”
Paul Weinberg, RABBLE.CA

“Distilling the discussions and debates going on in cinema and representation through an original filter, this film marks a tidal shift in Indigenous cinema.”
Jury quote, IMAGINE NATIVE FILM FESTIVAL