Intimate, realistic portrait of life on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Thieving, dealing drugs from his father's stash – Matho and his friends just keep on getting into trouble. War Pony has already won several awards, including the Caméra d’Or for best debut in Cannes.
Genre: Drama
Language: English, subtitles: Dutch
Matho and Bill, two Oglala Lakota boys, live on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Bill is a 23-year-old young man and a father of two children by two different women. Entrepreneurial as he is, Bill sees an opportunity to earn money everywhere, for example by breeding poodles. During one of his paid jobs, he meets Tim, a wealthy turkey farmer who owns a ranch just off the reservation and offers Bill a job. Meanwhile, 12-year-old Matho can't wait to grow up and especially wants to be noticed by his drug-dealing father. Thieving, dealing drugs from his father's stash, Matho and his friends keep getting into trouble. Although Matho and Bill don't know each other, they cross paths, and it turns out they have a lot in common.
War Pony is a realistic drama and an intimate portrait of life on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The directors of this film, Gina Gammell and Riley Keough, emphasize that the film is a collective achievement in close collaboration with the local community, who co-wrote the screenplay and can be seen in the various roles. This contributes to the authentic character of the film, which is also an ode to life in the reserve.
The film gives an inside look at the tough life on the reservation and provides access to a world we wouldn’t normally have access to. Some characters may seem stereotypical, but we soon find extra layers in the main characters. The film includes some heartbreaking scenes, for instance when Matho, after dealing drugs, steals Dinosaur toys to play with. It may seem like a small detail, but it shows that he is still simply, just a kid.
War Pony takes place on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the sovereign land of the Oglala Lakota in South Dakota. The characters and cast in War Pony are Oglala Lakota and Sicangu Lakota citizens of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Rosebud Sioux Tribe and mostly first-time actors.
Awards
Winner of the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Reviews
“War Pony is a rare breed – a native story told by an outsider seeking to uplift the community rather than exploit it.” IGN
“This is a brutally honest look at a community seldom portrayed on screen with care or honesty, with a simple story that may not pack much in terms of plot, but packs a whole lot of authenticity and empathy, with a stellar cast of mostly first-time actors.” Slashfilm
Ticket information
This film will be shown at Filmhuis De Zwarte Doos. Buying a ticket online in advance is mandatory if you want to attend this film. You can buy a ticket via the black “order” button on this page.
Please note: you can only buy a ticket online; tickets are not purchasable with cash or bank card at the ticket counter.
You can find more general information about tickets, refund policy etc. here.
Please be on time
The screening of the film starts at 19:30 sharp (no commercial). We kindly ask you to be at the ticket counter when it opens 15 minutes prior to the start of the film. This is to ensure the film starts and ends on time.
The Studium Generale film program is created in collaboration with the student film committee and Natlab.