Locally Filmed Movie “Come And Get Your Love”wins Award!
Nine years after its inception and a little more than one year after its Twin Cities’ Premier, the locally filmed and casted movie “Come and Get Your Love” was voted Audience Favorite at the Big Water Film Festival in Washburn Wisconsin early in November. The Festival spanned 3 days with a total of 40 films-shorts, documentaries and feature films-shown.
“Come And Get Your Love” was filmed on location in Minneapolis, St. Paul and Mendota and includes a locally well known cast including Mitch Walking Elk, Phillip Little Thunder, Jim Anderson, Alan Wittmer, Lloyd Bald Eagle, Gen Huitt, Marie Nordin, Larry Yazzie, Bob Larsen, and the Little Earth Drum.
The film’s writer, director and producer, Rhonda Rana, a native of Albany, New York, and now residing in St. Paul, got the idea during a powwow trip to Pine Ridge in 2000. “Come and Get Your Love” is a fictional story inspired by her experiences at Pine Ridge. The title is from the 1970’s hit song of the same name and the film features the music of Red Bone.
Rana, a graduate of The Hollywood Film Institute, was encouraged by those at the festival to enter “Come And Get Your Love” in the Madison Wisconsin Film Festival. “I was told” said Rhonda “that there is a definite lack of Native Films at that festival”. According to Rana, there are hopes for a prequel and a sequel. She is also entertaining the thought of trying to work the story into a TV series.
Watch the movie trailer at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNIE3NnpsHY.
Shakopee Mdewakanton Announce $5 Million in Tribal Grants
The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community announces their first round of fiscal year 2010 tribal grants totaling $5,000,000 to seven American Indian Tribes. Donations of $1 million each will go to the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, and Yankton Sioux Tribe all of South Dakota; the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa of Minnesota; and the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe of North Dakota.
The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, Flandreau, South Dakota, will use their $1 million grant for construction of a Senior Independent Living Project. In previous years the SMSC has helped fund this project, which is desperately needed to give tribal elders a safe and comfortable place to live on the reservation. It will also help provide more and better jobs for tribal members.
The Rosebud Sioux Tribe will use their $1 million grant for their Turtle Creek Crossing Grocery Store. The new grocery store, which opened in 2009, has a deli, bakery, pharmacy, and, most importantly, healthy foods to help combat the diabetes epidemic on the reservation. The SMSC helped fund this project with $2.4 million in loans and $2 million in grants in previous fiscal years.
The Yankton Sioux Tribe will use their $1 million grant for energy assistance for members and for the Marty Community Center, to complete the community center in Lake Andes, building insulation for the Marty Community Center, and pre-construction design for a new tribal administration building.
The Bois Forte Band of Chippewa Indians will use their $1 million grant for construction of a new 47,000 square foot administration building in Nett Lake, Minnesota. An $8 million loan from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community for the same project was announced in August 2009. The new building will house the Tribe’s administration and finance offices; its leasing, grant administration, and language preservation programs; planning, fuel assistance, information technology, a registrar, and the tribal council chambers.The previous building was destroyed by fire.
The Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe will use their $1 million grant for community improvement programs and infrastructure development, including replacement of the heating and cooling systems and for maintenance equipment at the tribal headquarters community building; equipment for the fire department, KABU radio station, utilities, and refuse control; and for the tribal housing program, emergency management funds for recovery from floods, and for youth recreation centers.
The SMSC utilizes its financial resources from gaming and non-gaming enterprises to pay for all of 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 12 years the SMSC has donated more than $162 million to charitable organizations and Indian Tribes, including more than $20.9 million in fiscal year 2009. 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, Playworks, Dakotah! Sport and Fitness, The Meadows at Mystic Lake, and other enterprises on a reservation south of the Twin Cities.
