Older Than America (film)
| Older than America | |
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Film poster
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| Directed by | Georgina Lightning |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Georgina Lightning |
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| Music by | George S. Clinton |
| Cinematography | Shane Kelly |
| Edited by |
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Production
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Tribal Alliance Productions
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| Distributed by | Tribal Alliance Productions |
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Release date
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Running time
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101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
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Older than America is 2008 American suspense drama film directed by Georgina Lightning and starring Adam Beach, Wes Studi, Georgina Lightning and Bradley Cooper. The film explores the devastating personal and cultural effects of the American Indian boarding schools on the members of a Native American family in Minnesota.
Rae (Georgina Lightning), is a Native American woman living on a reservation somewhere in Minnesota. One day, after she swerves to avoid some children in the road and winds up in a car accident, she finds out some of the children she's been seeing running around the community are not living children, but the spirits of dead children. The unquiet dead are the little girls and boys who were murdered at the Indian boarding school that used to kidnap, institutionalize, and abuse children in the community.
While at first she is frightened that she is seeing things no one else can see, through traditional Indigenous spirituality, Rae comes to accept her visions. She realizes her entire family, and the entire community, has been affected by this terrible secret. She realizes she is not crazy, but that the spirits of the children are speaking to her so the truth can come to light and that, maybe, the community can finally find healing.
The film was inspired by events from Lightning's life, and the lives of her family members and community. Her father, who occasionally had violent outbursts, had been silent about his childhood. When Lightning was 18, her father committed suicide. This shocking event launched her on a quest, as she attempted to find out about her father's mysterious childhood. In the course of her research, she found herself visiting the Indian boarding school where her father, along with many First Nations children, had been institutionalized as a boy. She saw the large cemetery behind the school, with the names of so many young students on the headstones. From this disturbing experience, the concept for the film emerged.
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