Liberated Lens presents: STANDING SILENT NATION

From the hemp fields of Pine Ridge to the US Federal Court of Appeals, this one-hour documentary tracks one family’s effort to create economic independence for themselves, their reservation, and their future generations.

When the Oglala Sioux tribe passed an ordinance separating industrial hemp from its illegal cousin, marijuana, Alex White Plume and his family glimpsed a brighter future. They never dreamed they would find themselves swept up in a struggle over tribal sovereignty, economic rights, and common sense.

The hemp plant is like a new buffalo for the Lakota: a resource whose many uses (from food to fuel to fiber) could enrich their sovereign nation. For three years, Alex White Plume and his family planted industrial hemp. But each year, their harvest was disrupted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which claims that hemp is marijuana despite the absence of marijuana’s psychoactive properties.

Directed by Suree Towfighnia.

Happy Thanksgiving from the US government…

Doors open at 6pm, film screens at 6:30. $5 donations much appreciated, but no one turned away of course!

Free snaks and popcorn!