Two young Lakota sisters, refugees of the Wounded Knee Massacre, fight to survive against a relentless enemy.
On December 30, 1890, 10-year-old Chuweku and her 6-year-old sister, Thanjkaku, are thrown into the heart of the Wounded Knee Massacre.

As the United States Army's 7th Cavalry viciously slaughters 350 Lakota people, the sisters narrowly escape with their lives but run in different directions. Chuweku makes her way through the frozen Black Hills while younger Thanjkaku escapes into the Dakota Bad Lands. Each uses her survival wit and knowledge of the land to outsmart the U.S. Cavalry.

The relentless Army is too much for Thanjkaku, who is mortally wounded. The frozen mountain passes prove insurmountable for Chuweku and she gives up her fight for life. The next morning, U.S. Cavalry gravediggers unceremoniously toss tiny Thanjkaku's body into a mass grave. One day later, as dawn breaks, the gravedigger's stumble upon Chuweku's body.

The soldiers dump Chuweku on the stone steps of the Carlisle Indian School and leave her to an uncertain fate.

Our [Historic] Political Leadership

"SOLDIER" is not Democrat nor Republican, Conservative nor Liberal. The opening quotations demonstrate official U.S. policy and highlight edicts by Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Michael Bloomberg, Richard Henry Pratt, and Donald Trump. At times, from all sides of the aisle, our nation's leaders have resorted to violently eradicating American Indians. "SOLDIER" shows how these historic proclamations impact two young sisters - two innocent children of war.

Allegory to Syrian Refugee Crisis

Many of the stark visuals of "SOLDIER" reference today's Syrian refugee crisis. We all remember the heart-wrenching photograph of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi's drowned body (2015) and the video of Omran Daqneesh's mute face sitting in the back of an ambulance covered in dust and blood (2016). Similar to these innocent children of war, "SOLDIER" forces us to confront the forgotten humanity of two young Lakota Indian sisters caught up in military conflict. As filmmakers, we know we're wading into sensitive narrative waters.

That's Not Us ...

It cannot be overstated - this is not a stereotypical Indian film. We leaned on real photographs of the Wounded Knee Massacre to create our sibling narrative. Our epic tale across the Dakota Badlands and through the frozen Black Hills is told through the imperfect relationship of pre-teen sisters fighting to survive, fighting their urge to give up, and embracing the call to protect each other to the very end.
-Guest contributor Kassandra Fuentes

Filming On Tribal Lands

"SOLDIER" was filmed on the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation. In today's media landscape, it is vital to include the necessary participation of enrolled tribal members. As genuine business partners and creative colleagues, citizens of these untouched reservation lands serve as invaluable contributors and their homes as backdrops for our remote locales. These lands were a touchstone linking our story to Wovoka - the real-life Paiute prophet whom the Lakota Indians made a pilgrimage to see in an effort to save their lives. 

Action/Adventure Stunts with Children

This action/adventure film follows the journey of two sisters. The stunts were a concern for the safety of the girls, crew, and horse. The eldest sister dodges bullets and climbs an ice wall. The little sister, while riding a horse bareback, faced many challenges. Our camera operators ran alongside the sisters - splitting their awareness between safety and storytelling. Safety was always a priority when filming these complex shots.
-Guest contributor Kassandra Fuentes

Student Interns

This is not a student film; however, student interns did help with editing (picture, sound, color-correction). They taught themselves the technical and aesthetic aspects of storytelling. The digital artists created time-lapse sequences of remote locations and sound designers crafted sound bytes and shaped music to push the story forward. "Good enough" did not make the cut. This film, executive produced by Academy Award nominated Director Terrence Malick, brought real-life experience to these young aspiring filmmakers.
-Guest contributor: Kassandra Fuentes

Big Bugs, Skittles, and SlimJims

We kept our cameras rolling on our 6 and 10-year-old lead actors to capture their budding relationship; a close friendship that mirrored sisterhood. Serendipitously, Chuwaku (Serenadee Rose) couldn't resist our camera-crew's Skittles candies, so our sound design team stepped in and, using SlimJim snacks, replaced the actor's candy chewing with sounds of branch breaking/eating. As younger sister Thanjkaku (Jenna Covers Up) waited for the next camera set-up, a huge bug flew by her head. From this, like a scene from a large-scale Hollywood war film, her death became one of "SOLDIER'S" most compelling visual moments. 

An Entertaining Documentary-Drama

The challenge was making our story not about "Indians." Mainstream depictions of Native Americans fixate on cultural preservation, history and/or victimization. We recognize the importance of these imperatives, but our story engages audiences by making our characters human beings. "SOLDIER" makes a real-life massacre something non-Native audiences want to know more about. 

Our Tri-lingual Challenge

This film has three distinct and dynamic languages - 1) The Paiute Indian messiah Wovoka recounts his journey to Heaven in his native language; 2) The sisters and their father speak Lakota; 3) Following her forced assimilation at the Carlisle Indian School, older sister Chuweku speaks broken English. Our researchers worked with Lakota and Paiute language experts to compose dialogue that creates a tight sisterly bond between Chuweku and Thanjkaku.