Two tender, turbulent coming of age stories on a South Dakotan reservation.
This powerful slice of reservation life made in collaboration with the Oglala Lakota community is unswerving but utterly empathetic. Young father, Bill (Jojo Bapteise Whiting), is always hustling to get to the next ladder rung to better his family’s life—selling stolen goods, siphoning petrol, even opportunistically plotting to become a poodle breeder. Meanwhile, sweet twelve-year-old Matho (Ladainian Crazy Thunder) is forced to grow up dangerously fast after he discovers and starts selling his father’s meth stash. The two parallel stories are bound together not only by their Pine Ridge reservation home, but by how the pair must wrestle with grief, violence and identity to forge their unique paths to adulthood. A deserving winner of the Caméra d’Or for best first feature at this year’s Cannes.
“A moving experiment in collective narrative filmmaking — an example of how stories can honour instead of exploit.” (The Hollywood Reporter)
“For all the hardships it catalogues, War Pony is never despairing–there’s a real pride at play here, and some pungent playfulness.” (Variety)
Caméra d'Or Winner, Cannes 2022
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