PASADENA, Calif. – At a time when so many others are telling the American Indian stories by simply re-writing their history or creating historically incorrect contemporary productions, veteran American Indian actor turned producer Sonny Skyhawk is turning the table with a screenplay he has written and will be producing titled ”Heartsong.”
”Heartsong,” a story about American Indians, has a production and filming schedule for late 2009. Skyhawk is currently seeking tribal nations, corporate or private investors to support this project that will allow an all-too-familiar and disconcerting story about American Indians in boarding schools to come to life before the big screen and be told from an American Indian’s perspective and direction.
It is an excellent and long overdue opportunity for Indian nations and investors to become involved and support films that not only re-educate mainstream audiences about the truths and realities associated with American Indians, but to be entertained as well.
”Heartsong” is a true story that takes place during the Depression era on an American Indian reservation and illuminates the redeeming power of will and spirit, when children are forced into an oppressive way of life and treatment through bigotry and cultural genocide. This is their story and ”heartsong.”
For nearly a century, American Indian children suffered at the hands of government sanctioned boarding schools on Indian reservations. Run by various religious denominations, American Indian children became the victims of a silent, but deliberate, genocide. Nevertheless, they stood strong and courageous while facing adversity head-on; they retained what their captors could not forcibly remove – their indomitable will and spirit.
Skyhawk has established the Heartsong Foundation, a 501(3) (c) nonprofit organization. All profits from ”Heartsong” will go to benefit existing survivors and abused or neglected American Indian children who are descendants of boarding school survivors. The effects of that experience did not end with the closing of those schools, and funding will cover the costs associated with crisis counseling, life management, medical care and more.
Skyhawk is the first American Indian actor, writer and producer to have advanced to the stature of producing independent films. An enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Nation of South Dakota, he became enthralled with the art of storytelling at an early age.
Having been raised by his grandparents, as an adolescent he remembers pretending to read the newspaper to his grandmother while making up the stories to fit the pictures. Pictures told the story for him then and pictures still tell the stories today – only today, his stories are told through film.
Skyhawk recently moderated a panel discussion titled ”American Indians in Film” at the Native American Finance Conference in Las Vegas, held Feb. 27 – 29.
