For the third Radical Movie Night! of the bi-monthly film series intended to inspire, challenge, and educate participants toward democracy, co-hosts RADAR and Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) offer a free, public screening of AWAKE, A Dream from Standing Rock, from 4 to 6 pm on Thursday, May 25, at the East Bonner County Library, 1407 Cedar Street in Sandpoint, Idaho. Please join this screening and discussion of current, regional, social and environmental struggles seeking just, sustainable, shared solutions. This documentary series and ongoing, radical and climate activism rely on physical and fiscal contributions from viewers and supporters. Peruse the following film description, drawn from the original AWAKE press release, and visit the enclosed links and WIRT website and facebook pages for further information resources.
Indigenous, activist, and Academy Award nominated filmmakers, including Gasland’s Josh Fox, Silenced’s James Spione, and Digital Smoke Signals founder Myron Dewey, each directed the three chapters of this unique, collaborative, full-length documentary centered around film co-writer and advisor Floris White Bull. Produced by Doug Good Feather, Lauren Taschen, and Emmy Award winning Amy Ziering of The Invisible War, the movie features background scores by indigenous musician/activist Nahko and Prolific the Rapper.
It premiered on Earth Day, April 22, at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, as part of a sold-out event with an opening prayer by film advisor Doug Good Feather, an in-depth panel discussion among the directors, and a live performance by Prolific the Rapper, attended by many water protectors such as LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, the founder of the first resistance camp at Standing Rock. AWAKE producers simultaneously released the movie online worldwide, for audiences to stream in exchange for contributions to the Pipeline Fighters Fund and the Indigenous Media Fund, supporting pipeline battles and indigenous journalists.
AWAKE chronicles the dramatic rise of the historic, #NoDAPL, native-led, peaceful resistance at the Standing Rock Reservation near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, which captured the world’s attention in late 2016. Thousands of activists converged from around the continent, to stand in solidarity with water protectors protesting construction of the $3.7 billion Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL), planned to carry fracked crude oil from the Bakken fields, through sovereign indigenous land, and under the Missouri River, the water source for the Standing Rock Reservation and 17 million people downstream.
Each of the three movie sections tells the story of the Standing Rock protests, through the perspective and style of the filmmaker who created it. The immersive documentary features emotional, first-person accounts and intense, factual footage of militarized police and private security teams confronting water protectors and journalists with rubber bullets, mace, tear gas, water hoses, and attack dogs. Reaching behind the frontlines, it also reveals the intimate, daily life of the camp community, as native and non-indigenous participants gather for peaceful prayer and song, and engage in tasks like clearing snow, raising tipis, distributing clothing donations, or building sleeping barracks for veterans who arrived en masse to join the water protectors.
Although President Trump approved DAPL completion in 2017, the fight against the pipeline continues in the courts. Meanwhile, numerous, other, pipeline protest camps have sprung up around the continent. Standing Rock has awakened the nation and forever changed the way that people struggle for clean water, the environment, and the future of the planet. “The battle that began at Standing Rock is a battle for the soul of America itself, and it is far from over. This film is part of the rallying cry for indigenous sovereignty and clean water that has resonated around the globe. It has been a great honor and privilege to work with people from Standing Rock, like Floris White Bull and Doug Good Feather, who have guided this project every step of the way,” says co-director Josh Fox.
Wild Idaho Rising Tide 