35th Anniversary
FEATURE | USA | 91 MINUTES | English
In Partnership with Janus Films
Powwow Highway
Director Jonathan Wacks
Powwow Highway is the groundbreaking Native feature that revolutionized the film industry and forever transformed the Native Narrative, trailblazing a path for Indigenous storytelling in cinema.
Two Cheyenne Indian friends with very different outlooks on life set off on a road trip. Philbert Bono (Gary Farmer) is a spiritual seeker trying to find the answers to life’s questions; his pal, Buddy Red Bow (A Martinez), is a realist who sees the world in black-and-white terms. When Buddy’s sister Bonnie Red Bow (Joanelle Romero) is jailed in Santa Fe, N.M., the mismatched duo hit the highway in Philbert’s dilapidated 1964 Buick and experience wild twists and turns on their journey of self-discovery.
Based on the book by David Seals The Powwow Highway
CAST & CREDITS
Director
Jonathan Wacks
Producer
George Harrison, Carl Kraines, Denis O’Brien, Jan Wieringa
Cinematographer
Toyomichi Kurita
Key Cast
A Martinez, Joanelle Romero, Gary Farmer, Amanada Wyss. Features: Wes Studi, Graham Green
Directors Bio
Jonathan Wacks is the Founding Director of the Barry R. Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, NY, and Professor in Film at Brooklyn College. He has directed a number of films including Powwow Highway (Warner Bros), produced by Beatle, George Harrison. The film was winner of the Sundance Film Festival Filmmaker’s Trophy, nominated for 4 Independent Spirit Awards, and winner of awards for best picture, director, and actor at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco. Wacks’ first film, Crossroads/South Africa (PBS), won a Student Academy Award in the documentary category. He then produced the acclaimed cult-hit Repo Man (Universal), starring Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton, and directed, Mystery Date (Orion), starring Ethan Hawke and Terri Polo, Ed and His Dead Mother, starring Steve Buscemi and Ned Beatty. He also directed an array of TV productions including 21 Jump Street, with Johnny Depp, Sirens and Going To Extremes. Prior to his career as a director, Wacks served as Vice President of Production at the Samuel Goldwyn Company. He is a former Chairman of the Board of the Independent Feature Project/West (IFP/West), the largest organization of independent filmmakers in America, and has served on the selection committee of the Writers’ Program at the Sundance Institute. His work has been seen at numerous international film festivals including Sundance, Montreal, Tokyo, Florence, London, Leipzig, Leeds, Cape Town, Deauville, New York, Munich, and Berlin. Wacks has written several screenplays including, Recoil based on the Jim Thompson novel, No Cure for Love, Another Year in Africa, Coldsleep Lullaby, and Stuck. He served as Chair of the Visual and Media Arts Department at Emerson College, Head of the Film Department at the Vancouver Film School in British Columbia and Chair of the Moving Image Arts Department at the College of Santa Fe. He was also Director of Garson Studios in Santa Fe. Wacks holds a BA (Hons.) from the University of Essex (UK) and an MFA from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America.
35th Anniversary
Showtimes
Saturday, November 9
IN-PERSON
Screening: 7:15pm
Post Screening Guest (s) Jonathan Wacks (Director), Joanelle Romero (Cast) and Sky Seals (Cast).
Once Purchased
your name will be at ‘Will Call’
AMC The Grove 14
189 The Grove Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Parking
At The Theatre
“One of the reasons we go to movies is to meet people we have not met before. It will be a long time before I forget Farmer, who disappears into the Philbert role so completely we almost think he is this simple, openhearted man – until we learn he’s an actor and teacher from near Toronto. It’s one of the most wholly convincing performances I’ve seen.” Roger Ebert
Here are some facts:
Powwow Highway, directed by Jonathan Wacks, was the final film produced by George Harrison and together, they took a bold risk in bringing this powerful story to life, helping to push Indigenous storytelling into the spotlight and elevating the Native narrative in the film industry.
- It was the First Native feature film that changed the Native Narrative forever.
- It still holds up, and the story line is still very relevant today.
- Launched Gary Farmer’s career.
- Launched Wes Studi‘s career.
- Launched Oscar-nominee Graham Greene.
- Joanelle Romero became the first Native filmmaker to be short-listed for an Oscar (2000) and became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (2016).
