Documentary about Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier opens Twin Cities film festival
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The Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival began Wednesday night. The documentary “Free Leonard Peltier" opened the festival with three sold out screenings at The Main Cinema in Minneapolis.
Directed by Jesse Short Bull and David France, the film revisits the case of Indigenous rights activist Leonard Peltier and the 1975 murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
Peltier was sentenced to prison and served 49 years before being granted clemency by former President Joe Biden. He is serving the remainder of his sentence at home in North Dakota on the reservation of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.
The film also explores the American Indian Movement, which has its roots in Minneapolis, and the activists who worked towards Peltier’s release.
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“Our film covers 50 years of how everything started, why it started and where it went,” said creative producer Jhane Myers. Myers is Comanche and Blackfoot. One of her more well-known films that she has produced is “Prey,” a prequel to the “Predator” series.
Production began a little under two years ago, she says.
“For me to be able to work on this as a producer, it just felt like this is something that I had to do,” Myers said, “If I didn't work on this, then I wouldn't be doing right by Native people and by my grandparents and my father and then my children.”
The film first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah at the end of January. Myers says Peltier’s clemency was granted one week before it was set to be shown. Within that week, she says the film crew and staff were able to update the film to include the news.
“It was just incredible, because we never expected to see this in our lifetimes,” Myers said. “It's good to finally see a documentary with a really happy ending.”
MSP Film Society’s programming director Jesse Bishop saw the premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. He says Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival organizers wanted to bring the film to Minnesota to remind people of the injustices seen in the world, and to highlight communities working to right the wrongs of the past.
“I think when folks are able to see the film, whether at the festival or someplace beyond, they'll understand just why so many people rally have rallied to free Leonard all these years,” Bishop said.
Myers attended the screenings in Minneapolis alongside directors and other crew. With the film, she hopes people will gain an understanding of Peltier and the journey of those who worked throughout the years towards his clemency.
“No one ever gave up. We always thought it was a possibility.”
The film festival runs through April 13 at The Main Cinema and select theaters across the Twin Cities.