SUREE TOWFIGHNIA’S “Standing Silent Nation” won marijuana magazine High Times’ 2007 Stony Award for Best Documentary.
Alex White Plume, the subject of “Standing Silent Nation,” is the president of Owe Aku, a group dedicated to preserving Lakota Indian culture. It screens in Owe Aku’s International Human Rights and Justice Program, Oct. 22 and 23 at two venues in New York City.
The film follows White Plume’s legal battle with the DEA to develop industrial hemp, which is biologically distinct from marijuana, as an environmentally sustainable cash crop on his impoverished Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
“Standing Silent Nation” premiered on PBS’ national “P.O.V.” Towfighnia and producer Courtney Hermann’s Prairie Dust Films is selling DVDs through their web site www.standingsilentnation.com.
“7 COLOMBIAN KILOS,” from Low Bow Productions, a brutal story of betrayal between two partners in the violent business of supplying drugs, debuts Oct. 20 at the Portage Theatre, 4050 N. Milwaukee at 6 p.m.
Written, directed and produced by Zeke Gonzalez, it stars Roberto Soto, Tim Taylor, Jaime Santillana and Joe Caballero.
