Reel injun was also made for the native youth of north america, to remind them of their peoples past as well as the recent contributions of natives to the art of film. Reel injun illustrates how native people have contributed much to american cinema both in front of and behind the camera. Review of the reel injun film platinum term papers. On the trail of the hollywood indian, through a century of filmmaking. Reel injun takes viewers through a chronological treatment of first nations peoples in film and television. Reel injun the film reel injun, presented in documentary format, takes a glancing look at how our native american indian population has been portrayed as a culture in the history and context of the american cinema. Neil diamond is a creecanadian filmmaker based in montreal, quebec, canada, born and raised in waskaganish, quebec. Most indians dont ride horses or wear feathers, but in the movies, they always do. Reel injun looks at 100 years of native americans in film. Watch reel injun 2009 full movie free streaming online.
I am grateful for the context given in the interviews and interested in their feedback on the flow of film history and its impact on public perception, as well as their own selfimage. On imdb tv, you can catch hollywood hits and popular tv series at no cost. In the film, reel injun, filmmaker neil diamond cree drives his rez car on a crosscountry tour researching the origins and evolution of how american indians are depicted in hollywood films. New york, may, 2010 the documentary film reel injun 2009, a vivid, lively essay, both. Reel injun takes an entertaining and insightful look at the hollywood indian, exploring the portrayal of north american natives through the history of cinema travelling through the heartland of america, cree filmmaker neil diamond looks at. The evolution of the depiction of native americans in film, from the silent era until today, featuring clips from hundreds of movies and candid interviews with famous directors. Featuring clips from hundreds of films, candid interviews with famous native and nonnative directors, writers and actors, reel injun traces how the image of. Overall, reel injun is a fantastic analysis of natives in film, and it should be required viewing in any film school.
Reel injun explores aboriginal cinema stereotypes by admin october 19, 2010 most north americans, even those who arent fans of westerns, have played cowboys and indians when they were children. Reel injun is illustrated with excerpts from classic and contemporary portrayals of native people in hollywood movies and interviews with filmmakers, actors and film historians, while director. This feature length documentary references several well known films and features interviews with native filmmakers, critics, and community leaders including chris eyre, a prolific director and john trudell, a leader in the american indian movement aim. By creating his documentary, neil diamond was able to draw attention to all the stereotypes hollywood has used, and looking at them all together seems to show the absurdity and damage. The documentary film notes the use of italians and jews to portray indians, and the fact that some native american actors spoke in their native tongues in old movies, making fun of the white movie cast and crew. Reel injun is an entertaining trip through the evolution of north american native people the indians as portrayed in famous hollywood movies, from the silent era to today. With clips from hundreds of classic and recent films document the shift. Even after the movie was completed, one decision plagued its prospects at least. The film was then produced by christian fon, catherine bainbridge and linda ludwick.
Wildcard searching if you want to search for multiple variations of a word, you can substitute a special symbol called a wildcard for one or more letters. Shooting reel injun taught me and the entire crew a lot about the history of american cinema. Hollywood has an impressive track record, one that spans more than 4000 films. With clips from hundreds of classic and recent films, reel injun traces the evolution of cinemas depiction of native peoples from the silent. Alongside some of the larger, previously announced premieres, like kickass, will be many of the sundance films that i am most excited about seeing gaspar noes enter the void, the much talked about, divisive film, recently acquired by ifc, will be showing, i cant wait to see which side.
Reel injun is a 2009 canadian documentary film directed by cree filmmaker neil diamond, catherine bainbridge, and jeremiah hayes that explores the portrayal of native americans in film. Sxsw just announced their lineup for the film festival coming up this march. The film directors were the cree moviemakers namely. Containing candid interviews with celebrated directors, writers, actors and activists, including clint eastwood million dollar baby, robbie robertson the last waltz, sacheen littlefeather, john trudell, and russell means, reel injun is an insightful and essential compendium for understanding the racial politics of hollywood and the.
Reel injuns concluding celebration of zacharias kunuks atanarjuat as. Reel injun explores aboriginal cinema stereotypes the. Reel injun traces the evolution of cinemas depiction of native people from the silent film era to today, with clips from hundreds of classic and recent hollywood movies, and candid interviews. The film is a loving look at cinema through the eyes of the people. Travelling through the heartland of america, diamond looks at how the myth of the injun has influenced the worlds understanding and. Between clips of natives from early edison reels to the present, we follow cree filmmaker neil diamond as he drives across western canada and the u. The trailer for the feature documentary reel injun. Sacheen littlefeather, john trudell, and russell means, reel injun is. Reel injun is a 2009 canadian documentary film directed by cree filmmaker neil diamond. Reel injun documentary explores native american stereotypes.
Phrase searching you can use double quotes to search for a series of words in a particular order. Reel injun traces the evolution of cinemas depiction of native people from the silent film era to today, with clips from hundreds of classic and recent hollywood movies, and candid interviews with celebrated native and nonnative. Reel injun is no masterpiece documentary, but its well worth 88 minutes of your time. This feature length documentary is a stunning portrayal of north american natives through a century of cinema. Reel injun takes an entertaining and insightful look at the hollywood indian, exploring the portrayal of north american natives through the. Enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing reel injun near you.
Reel injun began a limited release at theaters in toronto and vancouver. Jim jarmusch, clint eastwood, graham greene, john trudell, and others provide insights into the often demeaning and occasionally hilariously absurd stereotypes perpetuated on the big screen through hollywoods history. The trailer for reel injun reel injun is cree filmmaker neil diamonds entertaining and insightful look at the hollywood indian. A clip from reel injun where navajo watch john ford films. For later shelf completed shelf in progress shelf lists. American indians in feature films cuny academic works.
Reel injun national center for civil and human rights. Directed by neil diamond rezolution pictures, national film board of canada 2009 85 minutes. Also sign me up for fanmail to get updates on all things movies. Reel injun is part of a movement of native filmmaking that challenges persistent negative portrayals of native americans. Director neil diamond a member of canadas cree community offers a look at the past, present and future of native people on the big screen in the documentary reel injun, which includes interviews with actors adam beach, graham greene and sacheen littlefeather, filmmakers chris eyre and zacharias kunuk, and artists and activists john trudell. At times comical, embarrassing, and touching, the film examines how hollywood has set us up for what their vision and thus our.
Cree filmmaker neil diamond explores hollywoods portrayal of native americans in a century of cinema. Is the documentary approach used by neil diamond in reel injun valuable in changing peoples perceptions about the mythical and onedimensional stoic indian. A documentary about the evolution of the depiction of first nations people in film, from the silent era to today. Released in 2009, reel injun was a canadian documentary film that beautifully.
September 4, 2010 at its heart this is a well made, provocative madefortelevision documentary, a mix of movie clips and talking head interviews. With candid interviews from directors, writers, actors and activists, including clint eastwood, jim jarmusch, robbie robertson, sacheen littlefeather, john trudell and russell means, clips from hundreds of classic and recent films, reel injun traces the evolution of cinemas depiction of native people from the silent film era to today. The documentary explores the negative stereotypes and mistreatment native north americans faced. In this featurelength documentary, cree filmmaker neil diamond takes an entertaining and insightful look at the portrayal of north american indigenous people throughout a century of cinema. We caught up with filmmaker neil diamond to talk about the film and his motivations. Reel injun native americans portrayal in hollywood. Reel injun, a documentary exploring the representation of aboriginal people on the big screen, has a weeklong run at moma. Featuring clips from hundreds of films, candid interviews with famous native and nonnative directors, writers and actors, reel injun traces how the image of first nations people in cinema have influenced the understanding and misunderstanding of their culture and history. The film also talks to two people who were only teenagers when they appeared as extras in john ford westerns in the 1960s. Rent reel injun 2009 on dvd and bluray dvd netflix. For example, world war ii with quotes will give more precise results than world war ii without quotes. Reel injun received three awards at the 2010 gemini awards.
Reel injun traces the evolution of cinemas depiction of native people from the silent film era to today, with clips from hundreds of classic and recent hollywood movies, and candid interviews with celebrated native and nonnative film celebrities, activists, film critics, and historians. With the documentary reel injun, filmmaker neil diamond seeks to explore the history of native americans in films, seeking to correct the record whenever possible, while undertaking a personal. A mining disaster in northern quebec and cree spoken here, along with three seasons of dab iyiyuu, a series. Reel injun 2010 is a documentary, western movie starring adam beach and charlie hill.
Hollywood has made over 4000 films about native people. Cree director neil diamonds real look at reel indians. Cree filmmaker neil diamond takes an entertaining and insightful look at the hollywood indian, exploring the portrayal of north american natives through a century of cinema. Neil diamond, jeremiah hayes and catherine beinbridge. Reel injun had its local montreal premiere at the international festival of films on art, followed by a commercial run at the cinema du parc. The history of the depiction of native americans in hollywood films. Working with rezolution pictures, diamond has directed the documentary films reel injun, the last explorer, one more river, heavy metal. The amount of negative depictions and inaccurate stereotypes about natives in film played a. On the trail of the hollywood indian 1 synopsis cree filmmaker neil diamond takes an entertaining and insightful look at the hollywood indian, exploring the portrayal of aboriginal peoples through a century of cinema. Reel injun dvd ottawa public library bibliocommons. Featuring clips from hundreds of films, candid interviews with famous native and nonnative directors, writers and actors, reel injun traces how the image of first nations people in cinema have influenced the understanding and misunderstanding of their. The movie reel injun is a canadian film that was released in 2009. In this documentary, reel injun, by neil diamond, the director explores how native north americans were treated and shown in media from the early 20 th century to the present. The debate over the evolution of the movies depiction of native.