From left, “Big E” as body guard (also a production assistant), Wicahpi Bison as Connie Talking Crow, Dustin Kills Straight as Body Guard 2 (also sound recordist) and Tyler One Horn as Howard J. Sharp Tail candidate for Tribal President. Tyler had the audience in laughing take after take. Courtesy photo

Native Sun News: Film shot at Pine Ridge Reservation hits milestone

Making of a romantic comedy on Pine Ridge crests halfway mark
Filming of ‘Mallard’s Road’ a community effort
Special to the Native Sun News Today

KYLE –– Film History is being made by lots of folks on Pine Ridge who are making a Romantic Comedy called “Mallard’s Road.” For years film companies large and small, have used Pine Ridge as a focus for their stories. They might use only the water tower to identify where they want the audience to think the shots is. Seldom are local folks asked to anything but extras on camera.

What if you made a film where everyone in front of and behind the camera were from Native communities in western South Dakota? What if it was a comedy, a romantic story about two young people in love instead of a story of poverty, crime and worn out trailer houses.

Connie, (Wicahpi Bison) a lively, beautiful, Lakota woman works for an advertising agency in New York City, she is a citizen of the world, a product of “relocated” Oglala parents, who grew up in middle class Minneapolis, and has a degree in marketing. She receives a mysterious call from her father, asking her to leave the world she loves and help them move back to the reservation he left as a teenager and she has never known. Albert Two Bears III plays Rolly Lamoreaux, the male lead in the comedy.

This is the set up for a story that is going to surprise folks all over the world by showcasing the kind of amazing talent just waiting for a chance to show folks what they can do.

Tilda Long Soldier- St. Pierre, Executive Producer, does the wardrobe, set design, Lakota dialogue coach and feeds everybody. Dan Snethen, 20 year, varsity drama coach at Little Wound High School is directing the movie and provided these behind the scenes still shots.


Read the rest of the story on the all new Native Sun News website: Making of a romantic comedy on Pine Ridge crests halfway mark

(Contact Mark St. Pierre, producer of Mallard’s Road, at mstp@gwtc.net or find him on LinkedIn)

Copyright permission Native Sun News

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