THE PLACE

Four hours south of the Keystone Pipeline, near the harsh Badlands of South Dakota, lies the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian Reservations, home to 50,000 Lakota Native Americans. They may be smack in the middle of the American Midwest but this isn’t any Midwest we’ve seen before. When we cross into sovereign lands, we leave the casseroles and little league football behind and enter a harder, grittier Midwest – one that looks more like Juarez than anything else. Here, the life expectancy is 45 years old. The average income: $6000/year. Unemployment: 87%. Tuberculosis and Diabetes are 8 times the national average and 60% of homes have no running water. There are no malls, no public transportation, no libraries, no movie theaters. To live here is to exist at the very edge of the human condition. Even the weather is unforgiving. And yet, in this harsh environment, a burgeoning hip-hop community blooms. Here, some of our country’s most exciting new musicians are just catching their stride. Hip-hop exists all over Indian country, but if you ask anyone who knows, they’ll tell you the best rappers come from South Dakota. 

 THEMES

The underlying theme of Rosebud is the reexamination of the American dream. America is a country founded on the principle that anyone, regardless of creed or origin, can be successful. But statistically this isn’t true. The reality is: if you're born poor, you're probably going to stay that way. And if you are born on the reservation, you are born poor with a capital P. 98% of native americans live far below the poverty line. How, then, does the American Dream work if you're a kid from the reservation with no industry, no work, and no clear path to a better future? How does it feel when the American promise doesn’t seem like it's meant for you? 

These are the questions we will explore as we watch these young people hustling against overwhelming odds, trying to “make it” in a system that isn’t set up for them to succeed. The charismatic and wild nature will allow us to explore these deep themes without feeling too heavy, striking that perfect balance between entertaining and significant -- a balance consistently present in the most exciting new shows today. 

TONE

Reckless, fearless, joyous, and fun- Rosebud is an atmospheric immersion into a rarely seen world. Visually, it should feel grounded and intimate with a shooting style that evokes the same raw energy as the place itself.

About my work

As a bi-racial woman from South Dakota, questions surrounding identity and representation have always plagued me. I identify as black. But as a farmer’s granddaughter in the Bible belt, my “black” experience was strikingly different from the images of blackness I saw in the media. Whenever there was an image of us, it was almost always an image of people in crisis, a people who were demonized, stereotyped, and narrowly defined. Nothing fit the multi-dimensionality I saw among my family and friends, which left me to wonder how I fit in. There is a James Baldwin quote that I love, “Being white means you never have to think about it.” Which could probably be extended to “Being white and male means you never have to think about it.” As a woman of color in a predominately white space, I was not only forced to think about my race and gender all the time, but also the dichotomy between the way I experienced the world, and the way the world experienced me. My work has become my way of knowing and making sense of these contradictions.

My first feature, Before the Fire, was acquired for worldwide distribution by Dark Sky and is currently playing On Demand and in select theaters.