Monday Night Foreign Films - From Wounded Knee to Standing Rock - A Reporter's Journey

2019 USA 1hr 28minutes
Documentary NR
In English

SPECIAL SCREENING 50th Anniversary of Occupation.
FIFTY years on from the Native American occupation of Wounded Knee it is clear to see the stand-off - which was the longest standing instance of civil disorder in the US since the Civil War - had a profound effect on the mindset of today’s Native peoples.

Wounded Knee was the scene of an infamous massacre in 1890 by the US Cavalry who slaughtered almost 300 members of the Lokota Tribe who were taking part in a peaceful Ghost Dance ritual. In 1973 the American Indian Movement (AIM) which was founded by former Native American inmates who were tired of the rampant abuse, racism and discrimination they faced daily occupied the town on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota after the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organisation (OSCRO) had failed to impeach corrupt tribal chairman Dick Wilson who was using a private militia, the Guardians of the Oglala Nation - called the GOONS to terrorise political opponents and commit voter fraud.

In response the FBI, State Marshals and the United States Army surrounded the town and a grueling 71 day siege began. Imposing a gag order on reporters entering the town, the FBI sought to silence the press from hearing from those under siege. Kevin McKiernan, a young reporter snuck through the FBI lines and filmed the siege from the inside.