Country: United States
Language: English

Presented in our Virtual Screening Room

“opens a window to understand the pain that’s been inflicted on indigenous peoples. It’s a positive step for anyone willing to take it”

—Bradley Gibson for Film Threat

About the film:

World Premiere in the U.S. Dramatic competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Makwa, a young Ojibwe boy from an abusive home, shockingly murders a schoolmate in front of his only friend, Ted-O. After covering up the crime, the two boys go on to live very different lives.

Ted-O spends years in-and-out of prison, while Makwa, now called Michael, has moved on, single-mindedly chasing the American Dream. When Ted-O comes seeking vengeance, Michael goes to great lengths to protect his new life.

Images courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

About the filmmaker:

Growing up in and around reservations in Wisconsin and Minnesota, Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. was an avid film enthusiast from a young age. Using his voice to craft stories exploring the complexity of Indigenous identity, he wrote, directed and produced the short films Shinaab (2017) and Shinaab, Part II (2019), both of which played TIFF and Sundance. He was supported at the 2017 Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab and 2018 Sundance Institute Directors Lab.

Read more about his debut feature Wild Indian in Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film and Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch.

MAJOR SUPPORT
Ohio Arts Council
Greater Columbus Arts Council
The Columbus Foundation
Campus Partners

WITH HELP FROM
G&J Pepsi
WOSU Public Media