Reel Injun director to attend County premiere

Administrator | Dec 13, 2010 | Comments 1

Director Neil Diamond and Creative Producer Catherine Bainbridge will attend the County premiere of the Gemini Award-winning film Reel Injun.
Lee Arden Lewis, new owner of Jackson’s Falls Country Inn, at Milford, has planned an entire evening of entertainment on Tuesday, Dec. 14, as the movie will be followed by a concert by legendary Mowtown Funk LMT. The evening also connects the County’s Graham Sayers’ “Superciderme” and her new venue for arts and events.
“All of the people involved in the event are Aboriginal,” she notes. ” I am Mohawk/UEL, director Neil Diamond is Sub Arctic Cree,
Graham Sayers, of Chesterfield’s Cafe/Superciderme! is Nu-Cha-Nulth and the LMT lead vocalist – Leroy Emmanuel is Cherokee and the bass guitarist, John Irvine, is Algonquin.
Lee Arden Lewis met the producer and director at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival during its world premiere.
“I was working in conjunction with Playback Magazine and ACTRA on the ‘Hall of Fame’ event, where I had the honour of accepting the award on behalf of Chief Dan George along with his son Leonard George, Sacheen Littlefeather, and former national chief of the Assemby of First Nations, Ovide Mercredi,” she said. “Reel Injun has since won three Gemini awards, including the prestigious Canada Award and is now touring around the globe. It’s a fun look at the ‘Hollywood Indian’ with excerpts from classic movies and interviews with interesting folks such as Clint Eastwood, Robbie Robertson, Graham Greene and Adam Beach. I am proud of my Native ancestry, and Reel Injun’s historic Hollywood perspective is a “reel” eye-opener.”

Reel Injun takes audiences on an extraordinary cinematic journey that spans a century of film and weaves clips from hundreds of Hollywood movies with candid interviews with some of the most celebrated Native and non-Native film actors, directors, activists, film critics and historians. The film explores how the myth of “the injun” has influenced the world’s understanding – and misunderstanding – of Native peoples.
With unprecedented access, Diamond interviews legendary actor/director Clint Eastwood, director of the Cannes award-winner The Fast Runner, Zacharias Kunuk, as well as filmmakers Jim Jarmusch (Dead Man) and Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals) and Native American activists John Trudell, Russell Means and Sacheen Littlefeather, award-winning musician Robbie Robertson, actors Wes Studi (Last of the Mohicans, Geronimo), Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves, Thunderheart) and Adam Beach (Smoke Signals, Flags of Our Fathers) and asks them what the ‘Cowboy-and-Indian’ stories mean to the development of cultural history.
“I’m pleased to be able to show the film to audiences who are known for their love of film because this film is really 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 in their own way,” says Diamond. “I wanted to preserve the contribution that Native peoples have made to American cinema and how they have shaped and changed our collective beliefs in who we are as a people,” he said.
Cost for the evening is $15. Events begin at 5:30 p.m.
Jackson’s Falls County Inn is located at 1768 Cty. Rd. 17, Milford. 613 476 8576