Thursday, November 10, 2011
PRIOR LAKE, Minn. – The Native Children’s Survival latest project, a music picture campaign, “Who’s Gonna Save You,”made possible in part by a Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community grant for $60,000, will premier this week at the American Indian Film Festival, which will be held at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, California, on Friday, November 11, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. The U.S. showing will be followed with an international broadcast premiere coinciding with the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, in November and December 2011. It will air on South African Broadcasting Company (SABC 1) beginning the week of November 28, 2011.
This ‘music picture’ is a combination of music video, featuring recording artist Robby Romero, and motion picture woven together as a call for protection of the earth. Shot in New Orleans, Louisiana, a teenage boy named Apache Peace Warrior journeys on his skateboard through the city five years post-Hurricane Katrina.
Tracy Polk Jr., the San Carlos Apache actor portraying the lead character, is a skateboard champion who plays a spirit messenger in the production. As he travels through the aftermath of the destruction, visions of natural and man-made disasters and their powerful warnings fill his mind.
“We decided to support this project because we share common beliefs about taking care of Ina Maka, Mother Earth, and her resources for future generations,” said SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks. “Native Children’s Survival is carrying this important message out to the world in a way that will help make a difference. The platform of the UN Climate Change Conference is a good time and place to launch this project.”
“Our music picture campaign was made possible by generous funding from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community,” says music picture Executive Producer Stacey Thunder of Eagle Thunder Entertainment (ETE). “We are incredibly grateful for their support and belief in our project.”
“It’s exciting to have Shakopee Mdewakanton as a partner because of the commitment they have to protect and preserve Mother Earth, as evidenced through their water, energy, and land conservation stewardship projects,” says Thunder.
Directed and produced by Romero, “Who’s Gonna Save You” presents an Indigenous perspective to a global crisis and calling for the restoration of life in balance.
With insights from Hopi elder Thomas Banyacya and Onondaga Faithkeeper Chief Oren Lyons, the music picture honors the rights of Mother Earth and all her relations and commemorates the United Nations General Assembly’s historic move proclaiming Earth Day (April 22) as a day of international recognition called “International Mother Earth Day.” Along with Romero and Tracy Polk Jr., the production features Aaron Neville Jr., Thunder, and ETE recording artist, Dakota Romero. Street artists Jules Muck, Douglas Miles, and Banksy are also featured.
The song “Who’s Gonna Save You?” was written and produced by Romero and Grammy Award producer, engineer, and musician, Steve Addabbo. The music picture was conceived by Romero and actor Clifton Collins Jr. Funding was provided by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, Red Lake Ojibwe Nation, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska, and the National Indian Gaming Association.
According to NCS, their first project, “Is It Too Late,” a music video made by Romero in response to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and, according to Romero, the extractive industry’s relentless desecration of Mother Earth, was screened at the United Nations Headquarters General Assembly Hall in New York City during the Children and the Environment Project on May 11, 1990. The video earned Romero the title of United Nations Ambassador of Youth For The Environment and a certificate of appreciation from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). That same year, “Is It Too Late”was broadcast from the Kremlin after President Gorbachev’s historic environmental message at the 1990 Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders in Moscow on ORT Channel One Russia, and via satellite feed to more than 150 countries around the world.
Since that time, NCS’s awareness campaigns, public services announcements, ‘rockumentary’ films, and sustainable product development have reached a wide audience from all walks of life through live performances, premieres, and broadcasts around the world. NCS has also helped to raise millions of dollars to support Indigenous Peoples, programs for elders and youth, and environmental organizations.
For more information and photographs, please visit http://eaglethunder.com/media. Sneak Peak Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25tOG96C8l0
About the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community
The SMSC utilizes its financial resources from gaming and non-gaming enterprises to pay for the internal infrastructure of the Tribe, including but not limited to roads, water and sewer systems, emergency services, and essential services to its Tribal members in education, health, and welfare. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has a charitable giving program which comes from a cultural and social tradition to assist those in need.
Over the past 16 years, the SMSC has donated more than $229.5 million to Indian Tribes, charitable organizations, schools, and Native American organizations. The SMSC has also made more than $396 million in loans to other tribes for economic development projects. Since 1996 the SMSC paid more than $7.5 million for shared local road construction projects and an additional $16.7 million for road projects on the reservation. The SMSC has also paid $12.7 million to local governments for services and another $5 million for other projects.
The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, a federally recognized Indian Tribe in Minnesota, is the owner and operator of Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, Little Six Casino, Mazopiya, Playworks, Dakotah! Sport and Fitness, The Meadows at Mystic Lake, Shakopee Dakota Convenience Stores, and other enterprises on a reservation south of the Twin Cities.
This press release and other information may be downloaded from the SMSC website at www.shakopeedakota.org.
Contact: Tessa Lehto
Communications Specialist
Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community
Phone: (952) 496-6160
E-Mail: tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org
