The new 'Free Leonard Peltier' film received a standing ovation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with a special presentation by Leonard Peltier and Dino Butler. The film, which reveals the history of the movement, and exposes details previously unknown, was featured today in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Peltier spoke to the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival from his home on Turtle Mountain Chippewa Nation in North Dakota.
Peltier said he joined the American Indian Movement in 1970 in Denver, which was created and born here in Minneapolis.
"It was one of the most powerful organizations in history for Native Americans. We fought to abolish the Termination Act, and all of the discrimination, and all of the evils that were created against Native people here in America," Peltier said of the American Indian Movement.
"It has been a long fight, it is not over I'm sure, because we still have our enemies. I am an old man now and I can not get in the field to fight for you, but I can become a spokesperson, and I will become a spokesperson. I will continue to fight for our people for the rest of my life on earth."
Peltier said the film is accurate. "Everything in there is accurate and recorded."
Dino Butler reunited with Peltier for the first time in 50 years and joined him in the virtual broadcast.
 |
| "Incredible night at MSP Film Society, Minneapolis St Paul Film Festival 44. As the opening night film, we screened simultaneously in 3 sold-out theaters to standing ovations," the filmmakers said in Minneapolis. "Leonard made his first live virtual appearance from his home, joined by Dino Butler, who reunited with Leonard for the first time in 50 years." Peltier told the festival, "This is Leonard Peltier, speaking to you from Turtle Mountain Chippewa Nation. I’m very grateful to all of you for your support, your well wishes and your love." (Photo courtesy Free Leonard Peltier film) Censored News |
“We are sovereign nations, and we want our nationhood back,” Peltier said. “I’m pleading with you, please help us.”
Peltier told the audience he hoped they enjoyed the film, even though some parts were difficult to watch.
FIPRESCI said its Award was for “highlighting the imperative of sustained resistance against a judicial system that is not only unjust but also corrupt, particularly in its neglect of marginalized lives and minority communities.”
Free Leonard Peltier tells the long story, back from the beginning, of the injustice, the police beatings, lives stolen in boarding schools, and the 68 murders on Pine Ridge. It tells the story of the soft-spoken Leonard Peltier.
The images, from Alcatraz to the BIA takeover in Washington, to the Jumping Bull Camp, tell the story of those who were there and have always known what happened.
The film reveals one of the longest-running secrets in Indian country.
Continue reading Censored News article about the film, and the making of the film:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/02/free-leonard-peltier-film-for-people.html
Buffy's Words, Censored by Indian Country Today, are Now Heard Around the World
 |
| Buffy at Dine' College 1999. Photo by Brenda Norrell |
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, April 7, 2025
When Buffy Sainte Marie spoke of the secret deal to transfer Lakota land in the Badlands for uranium mining, her words were censored by Indian Country Today, where I was a staff writer. Now, 26 years later, filmmaker Jesse Short Bull has uncovered the rest of the story, and film goers around the world -- from Australia to Greece and Poland are hearing the deep history of the movement, and the long-buried secrets, in the new film 'Free Leonard Peltier.'
People around the world are responding with standing ovations and global awards for the new film, and the secrets of U.S. uranium mining in Indian country, the slow and toxic genocide, and the U.S. war industry which targets and exploits Indigenous People around the world, are part of this history.
Photo: Buffy Sainte Marie performing at Dine' College in Tsaile, Arizona, in 1999. Backstage Buffy told how she had been censored out of the music business by U.S. presidents because of her stance against the Vietnam War.
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/02/buffys-censored-words-led-to.html
No comments:
Post a Comment