I've been woken by the spirit inside that demanded I open my eyes and see the world around me. Seeing that my children's future was in peril. See that my life couldn't wait and slumber anymore. See that I was honored to be among those who are awake. To be alive at this point in time is to see the rising of the Oceti Sakowin. To see the gathering of nations and beyond that, the gathering of all races and all faiths. Will you wake up and dream with us? Will you join our dream. Will you join us?”Floris White Bull, advisor and co-writer of Awake, A Dream From Standing Rock
Standing Rock,
North Dakota
become one of the most
watched places on earth.
100%
of proceeds will be donated to further the film’s mission through the Awake Media Fund and the Pipeline Fighters Fund which were created by the filmmakers to support future pipeline battles and indigenous journalists.
and the pipeline fighters fund
(we suggest $5)
Directors and Contributors
Josh Fox
Academy Award nominated, Emmy Award winning filmmaker Josh Fox (GASLAND Parts I and II), is an internationally recognized spokesperson on fracking and extreme energy development. In 2016 he was awarded his third Environmental Media Association award for Best Documentary for his film How to Let Go of the World and Love All The Things Climate Can’t Change, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, was released on HBO and toured the world theatrically. Fox is the Producing Artistic Director of International WOW, a film and theater company he founded in 1996, the theater company has performed across the US, Europe and Asia. As a journalist, Fox has contributed to Rolling Stone, Daily Beast and the online network NowThis. One of his recent NowThis Standing Rock reports reached over 40 million people. Josh is the creative director of Our Revolution and was a Bernie Sanders surrogage as well as a member of the platform committee for the Democratic National Committee in 2016.
James Spione
Academy Award nominee James Spione’s last film, the whistleblower documentary Silenced, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and was nominated for an Emmy in 2016. His previous work Incident in New Baghdad won Best Documentary Short at Tribeca, and earned an Academy Award nomination. Mr. Spione’s other films include American Farm, about the demise of his family’s fifth-generation homestead in central New York State; as well as a continuing series of short docs exploring the Eastern Shore of Virginia, one of the few remaining rural coastal regions in the continental United States. Spione has also written and directed a number of fiction films, including the Sundance favorite Garden, starring Oscar winner Melissa Leo. His first film Prelude won a Student Academy Award and screened at numerous international film festivals.
Myron Dewey
Myron Dewey drone footage made him one of the most important journalistic voices to come out of the Standing Rock movement. Founder and owner of Digital Smoke Signals, Dewey is Newe-Numah/ Paiute-Shoshone from the Walker River Paiute Tribe, Agui Diccutta Band (Trout Eaters) and Temoke Shoshone. He is a professor, filmmaker/editor, digital storyteller, historical trauma trainer, drone operator and journalist. Digital Smoke Signal’s goal is to help bridge the digital divide throughout Indian Country and indigenize media through indigenous eyes with cultural core values (Culture, Reciprocity, Respect and Family).
Floris White Bull
Floris White Bull is the daughter of Mark F. White Bull (Lakota) and Patricia Ann Loretto (Pueblo). Raised at Standing Rock, she graduated Summa Cum Laude with degrees in Energy Technology and Native American Studies from Sitting Bull College and is currently pursuing a degree in Environmental Science. She is a principal subject and co-writer of AWAKE, A Dream From Standing Rock.
Doug Good Feather
Doug Good Feather is a respected member of the Denver Native American Indian Community and an enrolled member of the Hunkpapa Lakota from the band of Grandpa Chief Sitting Bull, of the Lakota Nation. He was born and raised on the Standing Rock Reservation and grew up in a small village on the South Dakota side called Rock Creek. He has spoken all over the world, representing his people through the Native Dance Ensemble led by Kevin Locke. He is the Executive Director of Spirit Horse Nation and the Lakota Way Healing Center. He has committed the last 11 years to helping others to heal through talking circles and support groups. He offers support and guidance to fellow Veterans suffering from PTSD, drug and alcohol addiction treatment & prevention, suicide prevention, and homelessness. Doug believes that once you become a warrior, you are always a warrior, and committed to a lifetime of service. He honorably served 8 years in the United States Army, from 2000 to 2008. He is a dedicated environmental activist supporting the efforts to protect Unči Makhá.
Bold Alliance
The Bold Alliance is a network of “small and mighty” groups in rural states — Nebraska, Iowa, Louisiana and Oklahoma. We fight fossil fuel projects, protect landowners against eminent domain abuse, and work for clean energy solutions while building an engaged base of citizens who care about the land, water and climate change.
“Standing Rock was—andJames Spione, Director: Awake, A Dream From Standing Rock
is—so much more than
a protest. What began in
North Dakota has become
a worldwide rallying cry of
resistance to corporate power
and its relentless drive for
profit at the expense of human
needs, rights and dignity. If we
are to survive this century, it
is the indigenous people who
will lead the way forward.”
“we will not go gentlyLove Letters to God ~ Nahko and Medicine for the People
into the darkest of days.
grandma’s here
and she says persevere
take a walk in her moccs,
taste a trail of tears
and our fears,
are the same
as they ever were”
“The battle that began atJosh Fox, Director / Writer / Producer:
Standing Rock is a battle for
the soul of America, and it
is far from over. This film is
part of the rallying cry for
indigenous sovereignty and
clean water that has resonated
across the globe. It has been a
great honor and privilege to
work with the people like Floris
White Bull and Douglas Good
Feather, who have guided this
project every step of the way.”
Awake, A Dream From Standing Rock
“somethingsA Tribe Called Red ~ Prolific The Rapper
that can’t be sold
somethings that
can’t be replaced
she’s your mother
the fresh water
in her veins”
Further Info on Standing Rock
The Dakota Access Pipeline is a controversial project that would bring fracked gas from the Bakken Shale in North Dakota through South Dakota, Iowa and eventually to Illinois. The Standing Rock Nation and people all over the world oppose the project because the pipeline would run under the Missouri river, a source of drinking water for over 18 million people. There are thousands of miles of pipelines in the United States and they leak every single day. Since 2010 over 3,300 oil spills and leaks have been reported.
Tens of thousands of people gathered at Standing Rock to join the peaceful prayeractions. Filmmakers Myron Dewey, Josh Fox and James Spione spent months on the front lines documenting North Dakota’s violent response to the Peaceful water protectors. These artists risked their own safety to capture images of police firing mace, pepper spray and rubber bullets at peaceful water protectors, journalists and medics at point-blank range. This film is not only shows a very brutal police repression of a peaceful protest, it is also a compilation of emotional interviews with members of the camp responding to having their civil liberties trampled on. In addition, this film is a cautionary tale, as these kinds of battles against the oil industry are becoming more prevalent in the United States and the World.
Awake Media Fund
While discussing how to release AWAKE and continue the spirit of Standing Rock, Fox and co-Directors Myron Dewey and James Spione decided that the best way to contribute to the movement sparked by Standing Rock was to start an Awake Media Fund to assist young Native American journalists and filmmakers with their current and future projects. And 50% of the proceeds from AWAKE will go towards this fund, which will be governed by an advisory board of filmmakers, Doug Good Feather and Floris White Bull. We anticipate that the Awake Media Fund will support new short pieces, feature films, articles and the hiring key PR reps for indigenous causes. The Fund’s mission is to court mainstream media to cover indigenous and environmental issues. Without question, no one is better positioned to transmit an Indigenous narrative than Indigenous people. The Awake Media Fund will assist with turning potential Indigenous projects into actual projects and assist Indigenous journalists and filmmakers with launching their careers so that Native American stories can reach more homes, more social media sites, touch more hearts and inspire Native and non-Native alike to stand for and seek out justice, equality, while maintaining their storied traditions and culture.
Pipeline Fighters Fund
There are dozens of new protest camps forming around the country in response to new proposed pipelines across the country. We are seeing pipeline resistance like never before, at the Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska, the SABAL Trail pipeline in Florida, the Bayou Bridge Pipeline in Louisiana, the Pilgrim and AIM pipelines in New York, the Penn East pipeline in Pennsylvania among many many others. We need to report on these stories by creating new short films on them and help people organize their own direct actions by bringing our tours and rallies directly to the pipeline battles. The Pipeline Fighters Fund will contribute to these crucial battles by funding new media reporting and direct action.
Healing
Both funds will also assist in helping water protectors heal from the trauma of frontline campaigns. Many water protectors and veterans suffer from PTSD from their actions and from the abuse of police, jail systems and other authorities. Both funds will assist in creating a program of healing in conjunction with Doug Good Feather’s Lakota Way Healing Center.
