Documentary
Walter Littlemoon attended a federal Indian boarding school in South Dakota sixty years ago. The mission of many of these schools in 1950, was still to “kill the Indian and save the man.” The children were beaten, humiliated or abused if they spoke their language or expressed their culture or native identity in any way. The trauma led many to alcoholism and violence in adulthood. At age 58, Walter began writing his memoirs as a way to explain his own abusive behaviors to his estranged children, but he could not complete the project without confronting the “thick dark fog” of his past so he could heal.
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
Off Country
maɬni—towards the ocean, towards the shore
Untold Secrets
Indian Rights for Indian Women
As Long as the Rivers Run
The Lost Spirits
Anti-Objects, or Space Without Path or Boundary
LaDonna Harris: Indian 101
The Warrior Tradition
Chasing Voices: The Story of John Peabody Harrington
Contrary Warriors: A Film of the Crow Tribe
When Love Turns to Hatred 4 - Domestic Violence on Children
Mitakuye Oyasin
Dolores
Britain's Child Drug Runners
Cut: Slicing Through the Myths of Circumcision
Sweetheart Dancers
Ways of Knowing: A Navajo Nuclear History
Mankiller
Those Who Come, Will Hear
SIMILAR MOVIES
Off Country
IMDB 1 | Aug , 2021
Every year, around 3000 Indigenous students receive scholarships to attend some of Australia’s most prestigious boarding schools. It is an immense opportunity, setting many of the youngsters on a path to a bright future, but it also means they must leave their homes and communities. Over the course of a year, Off Country follows several such students, who, despite hailing from distinct nations and having vastly different circumstances, each share a commitment to doing themselves and their families proud – no matter the difficulties.maɬni—towards the ocean, towards the shore
IMDB 5 | Jan , 2020
An experimental look at the origin of the death myth of the Chinookan people in the Pacific Northwest, following two people as they navigate their own relationships to the spirit world and a place in between life and death.Untold Secrets
IMDB 0 | Jul , 2021
Gives voice to the experiences of Irish institution survivors and focuses on the life and upbringing of one survivor, Anne Silke. Silke was fostered out of the St. Mary, Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam at the age of 9 to the Killileas, a prominent political family from Tuam. Untold Secrets recounts her often brutal and abusive treatment at the hands of her foster family and reveals never seen before interviews with fellow survivors. Although Silke is now deceased the documentary gives a posthumous voice to Anne and possibly some closure to her family.Indian Rights for Indian Women
IMDB 0 | Sep , 2018
Three intrepid women battle for Indigenous women's treaty rights.As Long as the Rivers Run
IMDB 0 | Jan , 1971
Examines the violence and civil disobedience leading up to the hallmark decision in U.S. v. Washington, with particular reference to the Nisqually Indians of Frank's Landing in Washington.The Lost Spirits
IMDB 0 | Jan , 2009
The last surviving Native Americans on Long Island are the focus of The Lost Spirits. The film chronicles their struggles as an indigenous people to maintain their identity amidst relentless modernization and a heartless bureaucracy.Anti-Objects, or Space Without Path or Boundary
IMDB 7 | Apr , 2017
The title of this video, taken from the texts of the architect Kengo Kuma, suggests a way of looking at everything as “interconnected and intertwined” - such as the historical and the present and the tool and the artifact. Images and representations of two structures in the Portland Metropolitan Area that have direct and complicated connections to the Chinookan people who inhabit(ed) the land are woven with audio tapes of one of the last speakers of chinuk wawa, the Chinookan creole. These localities of matter resist their reduction into objects, and call anew for space and time given to wandering as a deliberate act, and the empowerment of shared utility.LaDonna Harris: Indian 101
IMDB 1 | Mar , 2014
A documentary film about Comanche activist LaDonna Harris, who led an extensive life of Native political and social activism, and is now passing on her traditional cultural and leadership values to a new generation of emerging Indigenous leaders.The Warrior Tradition
IMDB 0 | Nov , 2019
The astonishing, heartbreaking, inspiring, and largely-untold story of Native Americans in the United States military. Why do they do it? Why would Indian men and women put their lives on the line for the very government that took their homelands?Chasing Voices: The Story of John Peabody Harrington
IMDB 0 | Apr , 2021
For 50 years, controversial ethnographer John Peabody Harrington crisscrossed the United States, frantically searching and documenting dying Native American languages. Harrington amassed over a million pages of notes on over 150 different tribal languages. Some of these languages were considered dead until his notes were discovered. Today tribes are accessing the notes, reviving their once dormant languages, and bringing together a new generation of language learners in the hope of saving Native languages.Contrary Warriors: A Film of the Crow Tribe
IMDB 0 | Nov , 1985
Examines the impact a century of struggling for survival has on a native people. It weaves the Crow tribe's turbulent past with modern-day accounts from Robert Yellow-tail, a 97-year-old Crow leader and a major reason for the tribe's survival. Poverty and isolation combine with outside pressures to undermine the tribe, but they resist defeat as "Contrary Warriors," defying the odds.When Love Turns to Hatred 4 - Domestic Violence on Children
IMDB 0 | Oct , 2022
The four adult heroes and heroines of the film, who were selected in a casting call posted on TV, speak candidly on camera from the very beginning of their memories. Through individual stories, they describe their childhoods, family backgrounds, life at school, and how they spent their free time. The stories complement each other and are intertwined; we see emotions and hear things that reveal the horrific DNA of domestic violence. The documentary addresses the issue of abuse with an emphasis on the entire social environment of the victims and the societal underpinnings. Typical of domestic violence is that victims often hide it within themselves; they do not talk about it, and sometimes they do not even admit it. But in the documentary, they were determined to speak out.Mitakuye Oyasin
IMDB 0 | Jan , 2015
Lakota people from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota describe the ongoing struggle of their people.Dolores
IMDB 0 | Jan , 1984
Britain's Child Drug Runners
IMDB 0 | Nov , 2019
Children as young as seven are being groomed to sell drugs for 'county lines' drugs gangs in towns and villages all over the UK. This film follows four young people trapped in this world.Cut: Slicing Through the Myths of Circumcision
IMDB 0 | Sep , 2007
"Cut" is a documentary film by Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon which examines the subject of male circumcision from a religious, scientific and ethical perspective. Using cutting-edge research, in addition to interview footage of rabbis, philosophers, and scientists, Cut challenges the viewer to confront their biases by asking difficult questions about this long-standing practice.Sweetheart Dancers
IMDB 9 | Feb , 2019
Sean and Adrian, a Two-Spirit couple, are determined to rewrite the rules of Native American culture through their participation in the “Sweetheart Dance.” This celebratory contest is held at powwows across the country, primarily for heterosexual couples … until now.Ways of Knowing: A Navajo Nuclear History
IMDB 0 | Mar , 2025
The American Southwest holds a dark legacy as the place where nuclear weapons were invented and built. Navajo people have long held this place sacred, and continue to fight for a future that transcends historical trauma. This is their story.Mankiller
IMDB 6 | Jun , 2017
The story of an American hero and the Cherokee Nation's first woman Principal Chief who humbly defied all odds to give a voice to the voiceless.Those Who Come, Will Hear
IMDB 9 | Jun , 2018
The documentary proposes a unique meeting with the speakers of several indigenous and inuit languages of Quebec – all threatened with extinction. The film starts with the discovery of these unsung tongues through listening to the daily life of those who still speak them today. Buttressed by an exploration and creation of archives, the film allows us to better understand the musicality of these languages and reveals the cultural and human importance of these venerable oral traditions by nourishing a collective reflection on the consequences of their disappearance.