Cody Lefthand’s directorial debut is set to premiere at Calgary International Film Festival this week.
Stories We Have Earned: The Stoney Nakoda Film Project explores Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation’s historic relationship with film and the exploitation of the Nation’s culture and customs for entertainment.
“The collaboration with Hollywood film, exciting as it may seem on the surface, was not always positive. But collaborating on the films gave the community a feeling of being included in something rather than the general experience of being excluded from the greater society,” said Lefthand, of Eden Valley and Bearspaw First Nation.
The documentary takes a closer look at the perspective of Nation members who were involved, or who had family members involved in filming three projects released from 1970 to 1993: Little Big Man; Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson; and Heaven and Earth.