This thought-provoking suspense thriller explores and highlights the impact of the 'culture-killing' effects of the typical Native American experience in boarding schools in the 1900s and other inter-social relationships between the Native American people and the dominant European-based American culture.
This controversial and scandalous subject is depicted through one woman's revelations of a Catholic priest's sinister plot to silence her mother from speaking the truth about the atrocities that took place at her Native American boarding school. The lasting and disastrous impact of the cultural genocide and loss of identity that occurred at these institutions across the United States and Canada are explicitly exposed, through this haunting and suspenseful tale.
Did you know? This critically acclaimed film won many awards and accolades including, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor (for Wes Studi) awards at the American Indian Film Festival; Best Dramatic Feature at the 2008 Flyway Film Festival; the Aloha Accolade Award from the Honolulu International Film Festival on March 8. 2008. Read More
This critically acclaimed film won many awards and accolades including, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor (for Wes Studi) awards at the American Indian Film Festival; Best Dramatic Feature at the 2008 Flyway Film Festival; the Aloha Accolade Award from the Honolulu International Film Festival on March 8. 2008.
This movie's official world premiere took place at the 2008 SXSW Festival in the narrative feature competition. This film screened at other festivals including the Women with Vision Festival in March 2008, Talking Stick Film Festival in June 2008 and Lake Arrowhead Film Festival in April 2009.
Most of the shooting for this movie took place in late 2006 on or around the Fond du Lac Reservation and Cloquet, Minnesota.
This film was inspired by events from Lightning's life. Her father, who occasionally had violent outbursts, had been quite silent toward her about his childhood. When she was 18, he committed suicide. This event later launched her on an exploratory quest, attempting to find out more about her father's elusive childhood. In the course of her explorations of her father's past, she found herself visiting the Native American boarding school that her father had attended as a boy and noticing the oddly large cemetery behind the school, with the names of so many of its young students etched onto the silent headstones.
Older than America 2008
08 Mar 2008 ● English ● 1 hr 42 mins
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