In 2006, I was asked to create an historical video document in a collaboration among The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Tunxis Community College, hawkwing, Inc., and my own company, Filmosity Productions. The film would follow two students – one student from Connecticut, and one Lakota student from the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota – as they interviewed some of the elders of the Lakota tribe in an effort to continue the Lakota stories and traditions that are rapidly falling prey to technology and modernity. Using the Seven Lakota Values as a guide, the Lakota Elders Project unites young Lakota people with their Elders to pass on the history, tradition, and values of the Lakota people.

Below I’ve included a short segment of the 50 minute film “The Lakota Elders Project: The Journey of the Generations,” entitled “The Wounded Knee Massacre.” The moving piece profiles several direct descendants of victims of the massacre as they describe the events of that day and the emotional and political impact the massacre had on future generations.