For sure, this is the answer to the everlasting misery and misunderstanding and lack of respect for the writer, especially the playwright. Cardboard cutouts with words coming through their frozen faces and hardly moving worth a damn. But wait a minute, we already have it. It's called--a Hollywood movie!
David F.
read Ned Bobkoff's article
Sometimes, I ask myself? Why why why? I remember a vision I had a time ago. One, where we can do justice for our people, give hope for our children. You know--a better tomorrow! One where we can remember yesteryear, where we can say, "we are making change slowly, but in small steps.." because, that's the way they work, the Otherside to this side! Its not I, or it's not you, or them....its Mitakuyase, our relatives who come and give us visions of the past, present and future. They are the ones who give us hope, courage, and the gifts to carry them out. The simple fact is that they are trying to tell us something. What? Well, these ways are sacred. These ways are powerful! They must be done without question the Right way, because they were made to be simple and yet done with love and compassion. Yet, we teach and promise and Promise to the eager, determined, vulnerable, the ones who will pay money, for what? So they can be Lakota, pray like Lakotas...be Lakotas...if that's the way it rolls..then what have we learned from them...some of them know better...but do they care...no....is it power and control which drives people to become self-proclaimed Medicine men overnight?. Like buying a pipe from Praire Edge in Rapid City...like saying buy me, then I will make you Lakota....is it the good feeling they get when someone is abused and abused in sweat or ceremony! Is it the White man, or who is the White man these days? I dont know who's a better man, the White man saying he's a Lakota Medicine Man...or i the Lakota man abusing our children in ceremonies and getting away with it. My many adventures and travels around the country have led me to witness--the butchering and mutilation of these sacred Lakota ways. I get a sick feeling, a very sad feeling of a vision for tomorrow. Like watching our relatives who lie there at Wounded Knee, knowing they were sacrificed to please the pride of the invaders. How many more people will be sacrificed on our reservations? How many more must suffer generations of the same cycle over and over of Genocide and abuse of our ways? So I must say this--it's time to take these ways back! When will we stand together as a nation of visionaries, healers, and protectors of this way of life? When will people know, or is the excuse they just dont know any better? I'm all about healing and being happy to live a beautiful life. So being a co-producer of "Spirits for sale!" my message is simple: dont sell these ways. Tunkasila is watching, always. The Swedes just dont know how it is. I jumped on board because it was exciting to actually put a part of my vision in the movie. We sat down at the bottom of Bear Butte and talked. This was never about fame or making money...it was about a vision that came from the heart....the vision that flowed thru my Minicojou blood, remembering my relatives on the other side...its why I push and promote the movie. I couldn't care less about a Swede carrying a feather to my res...what a story huh! To hand it to our White Buffalo calf keeper! Now, that made them famous, like saying look at us, the White people, who infiltrated the Cheyenne River. I hate to see what would happen if they gave her a turkey feather! Where might she travel...to the country Turkey? Maybe! All I can say is--go see the movie.
Jerry Clown
read Carole Quattro Levine's article
read other comments about "Spirits for Sale"
How enriched my trip to Paris in July will be for having read your musings!
Cynthia K
read Renate Stendhal's article
Kathi, thank you for seeing clearly Anna and Grace. Your vision is keen and your heart is tender. Bless you.
Ken Flynn
read Kathi Wolfe's article
Arthur Meiselman carefully elicits the dilemnas a playwright goes through when he or she tries to get beyond the tried and true, or the acceptable "experimental play". How the playwright "sees" the world of his or her creation is essential to the truth and power of a work on stage. I also agree that dramaturgs, literary managers and the rest of the mess are calibrating, to some extent, what goes on in the regional theatre. Operation MFA is in full swing. As to whether these arbiters of what works have enough life experience under their belt is another story altogether. Being inside a theatre in an office all day long is frequently gratuitous to head on, knuckle down and do it experience. A pox on these mouse traps!
Ned Bobkoff
read Arthur Meiselman's article
Kathi Wolfe's article about Grace Cavalieri's Anna Nicole poems is her best yet for this magazine, and that's saying something. Grace is one of our poetic national treasures, writing character poems as vivid and enthralling as the greatest fiction, and Kathi has captured masterfully both Grace's personality and her significance in the poetry world.
Miles David Moore
read Kathi Wolfe's article
I wonder if also that there were some who didn't want to have this indictment of the prison system at that time. I know that there have been a number of movies that were hard-hitting on the subject but I wonder if yours was just too hard. It sounds like the play-story is just too overwhelming and as you say too unrelieved. I hope we get to see it some day.
rjs
read Arthur Meiselman's article
Although I am the proud owner of this red Ferrari of all reviews, I wish to comment on Kathi's writing. I have always read Kathi's work anywhere I could, including Scene4. She is the best reviewer, and the best kind of reviewer. She works with many qualities: blazing intelligence and spiritual power are the first that come to mind, but the humor laced with compassion is her keynote. I copied the article in Scene4 to distribute and I regret that.I should have allowed the 50 readers to make their comments in this box instead of personally to me...comments of praise for Kathi's generous hand. The fact that Kathi is a poet of distinction and originality makes her qualified to talk about poetry. Thank you Scene4. I will not preempt the system again!
Grace Cavalieri
read Kathi Wolfe's article
A "Lofty" article, Ned.
Chuck Cobb
read Ned Bobkoff's article
I read riveted, then intrigued as the smile on my face emerged. Many thanks to Ned Bobkoff for a concise, articulate, entertaining and insightful story of the playwright's dilemma.
Sandra Hughes
read Ned Bobkoff's article
Amen! Please make a print edition.
Anee W.
read the April 2008 issue
I don´t think this is the right forum for solving legal or economical issues. But the fact is that the producers of "Spirits for Sale" are getting increasingly tired of threats and slander, hearing about film festivals getting threatened and attempts to intimidate reputed spiritual leaders. All this done by one single man.
Jerry Clown was introduced by Paula Horne since he had promised to finance our film. We made an agreement with Mr. Clown. He promised to invest in the film, we promised that if he did so, he would be a co-producer with the rights to the film in the US. (Making one version for Natives and one for Europe has never been an option. There has been no discussions about making the film "for free". ) Mr. Clown never invested a cent but instead had us pay for him and his girlfriend during the two weeks he worked with us in SD. All the costs have been paid by me and the producer out of our own money. So obviously it was a disappointment when Mr. Clown broke the agreement. The "contract" Mr. Clown refers to is an application for money, written to a foundation for filmmakers. It states that Mr. Clown will be the co-producer if and when he invests in the film. It is not signed by the production company. We did not get any money from the foundation and Mr. Clown did not invest, thereby he is not a co-producer. I have an agreement with Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Lakota Nation that my profit from the film will go back to him and to poor elders on the reservations in South Dakota. Mr. Clown knows this, yet tries to prevent us from selling it in the US by intimidating people and organizations. It is my obligation to stand up for the elders in SD and to keep my promise to Mr. Looking Horse.
We would like to thank Mr. Clown for his help during the shootings in SD. Credit has been given to him in the film. We kept our promise to Mr. Clown - to send him the finished film - and we have paid him for his work. Further more, in helping Mr Clown to make his own version of the subject, we supported him with 8h of filmed material. This material is still free for him to use by courtesy of the Swedish production company.
The attempts to discredit the film and the filmmakers also fall back on all the elders, spiritual leaders and traditionalists who have supported us in the making of this film.
Annika Banfield, co-producer
Folke Johansson, producer
It's good to see the Swedes over there doing some good. Or, are they? When, I was first contacted by Paula Horn then introduced to Annika and Folke, the two Swedish filmmakers, it was with good intention to talk and get to know each other by phone and email. Then a contract was made by the Swedes stating that I had the rights to the movie in the U.S. No money was going to be made from it. There would be a Native version, as well as a Swedish version. Annika stated her only intention was too show it over in Europe to educate people on what not to do and I would have a say in the direction of the story. So far, the documentary has been shown in the U.S. but they left me out in any say. Broke the contract and disrespected the Minicojou Lakota people of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. My name is Jerry Clown, descendant of Crazy Horse, co-producer of the award-winning documentary, "Riding with Ghosts" You are being fooled because they are exploiting themselves.
Jerry Clown
read Carole Quattro Levine's article
She's a wonderful Giselle, different from Feijoo but as commanding. Yes she's tiny but on stage she's colossal. I hope SF Ballet can keep her for a long time. Your interview is fine, thank you.
Martin Vistiz
read Catherine Conway Honig's article
So there is this Swedish lady who carried a feather across the globe to find the rightful owners of the sacred symbol? It is indeed a very touching story, despite the fact, that one person does not represent the entire Europe. Europe is a continent consisting of 48 countries (49 if you include Vatican City) and 230 spoken languages. And each of these countries has a history, a culture; they have TV, newspapers, schools and Universities. I don't know if the population in Sweden believes "that Native Americans don't even exist", buy maybe one shouldn't fall into clichés? Maybe Annika Banfield can plan a trip through Europe in the near future to explore all these "culturally starving Europeans" (this time without a feather, but an open mind) before returning to her Danish sweat lodge? Which reminds me, that Sweden and Denmark are two completely different countries.
Andrea Kapsaski
read Carole Quattro Levine's article
Parabéns pela matéria com as alunas brasileiras, realmente são uns talentos, todas as três. E participo que essa linda foto da Christiane Pegado é de minha autoria, sou fotógrafo e trabalho diretamente com o ballet classic. Adorei a matéria. Parabéns!
Carlos Veras
Leia o artigo da Andrea Carvalho Stark
