Kickstarter

“Hakela: The Last One” chronicles the story of Lakota tribal member Calvin Spotted Elk, the great-great-grandson of the famed Lakota Chief Spotted Elk, erroneously known as “Big Foot,” who, along with over 300 members of his Minneconjou band were massacred at a place called Wounded Knee Creek in December, 1890.

Our Kickstarter.com funding will be used for a production trip to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation at the end of 2011. Significant events that are key to our story are happening at that time and it is essential that we are there to film them. We will also film several important interviews while we are there and shoot footage with Calvin as he visits the Oglala Lakota College, which has one of the largest collections of archives and documents related to the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre. When we return from the production trip the additional footage and interviews will be edited into a new work in progress sample which will be used to apply for funding from ITVS, Native American Public Telecommunications, and National Geographic's All Roads Seed Grant.

With unlimited access to the Spotted Elk family, the filmmakers will chronicle and investigate the lineage claims of Calvin Spotted Elk as well as others on the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Sioux Reservations. The film will briefly recount the Wounded Knee Massacre primarily from the Lakota perspective in order for viewers to fully comprehend the tragedy and lasting impact of the massacre on the survivors and their descendants. 

We will follow Calvin as he navigates the obstacles of his own tribal council, the bureaucratic red tape of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as well as the federal government as he invokes federal law, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) for the return of Spotted Elk’s pipe from the Woods Memorial Library in Barrie, Massachusetts. Finally, we will be there with Calvin when he publicly confronts museum officials in order to bring national media attention to his struggle. Through research, lawyers, genealogists, prayer and non-violent protest, Calvin is committed to fulfill his promise and we will be there to film his entire journey from a small, impoverished reservation to the halls of congress if necessary.

This story, like so many Native American narratives is steeped in an American history too often brought to television audiences through the prism of non-Native experiences and biases. Accuracy, representation, and authenticity are vital components to the presentation of Native histories to a wider non-Native audience. “Hakela” will present non-Native PBS audiences with a balanced, yet uniquely Lakota perspective of this often misrepresented chapter of Native American history through the personal, contemporary journey of Calvin Spotted Elk.

The primary filmmakers (Ojibway and Lakota), will rely on their combined 40-plus years of filmmaking in Native Communities to bring Calvin’s story to light through a combination of interviews, cinema vérité, stylizied imagery, motion graphics and animation set to a soundtrack scored by Anishinabeg recording artist Keith Secola (Homeland). Native American filmmakers and technicians will fill key production roles whenever possible, and paid internships for aspiring Native filmmakers will be available when shooting on location in South Dakota. A real-time video blog will also be used to track the story of Calvin’s journey paralleling the progress of the film.  To date, research and development, and the work in progress sample video have been funded entirely by Turtle Island Productions. Visit www.hakelathemovie.com for more information and view a longer 13 minute work in progress sample.

Miigwtch (Thank You) for your support.

James M Fortier (Producer/Director)

Message From Calvin Spotted Elk

"Hau" (Greetings),

I'd  like to thank you for your support of our project. This story has generated so much interest we have already reached our "friends" limit on my Calvin Spotted Elk Facebook Page, so we have started a new one honoring my late father Jasper. If you have not already joined our Facebook community, we'd like to encourage you to friend us at Jasper Spotted Elk on Facebook where we acknowledge those who have supported our efforts.  In addition, please feel free to browse our photo albums which have a lot of our supporting documentation and ongoing research.  We welcome you to our community and thank you once again.

"Pilamaya"(Thank You)