Pray for the people of the Havasupai and the Grand Canyon and remember the words of elder Rex Tolusi:
"With the environmental groups that are concerned for animals, for plantlife, for the waters, at times I find it hard to bring these people together, to look at things as we, the indigenous people do. Our environment, we are a part of, for we are the children of our Mother Earth. The groups that I speak to, I tell them, if the fishes can come together, if the four-leggeds can come together, if our feathered relatives come together, why couldn't the two-legged people come together and work together? I feel that it's time now that we look at things around us, as we, the indigenous people, look at the earth, the air, the waters, the universe. We must protect these things. . . .
I want to say the people that are here to spread the word to those who are not here, tell them what we have said here.”
Rex Tilousi, Havasupai Nation, Grand Canyon, USA. Longterm member of the Havasupai Tribal Council, activist against Canyon Uranium Mine.
I have added a HAVASUPAI FLOOD INFO page at 220-productions.com
There is information there on how people can donate to the tribe through Wells Fargo.

RE: POISON WIND News: the film will play at the Heard Museum, in Phoenix, in early 2009. Hopefully there will be a panel discussion afterwords about uranium mining on Indigenous lands and future of mining in the Grand Canyon. The film will also be shown
by the Sierra Club in Flagstaff in early October and at the Western Mining Action Network’s conference in Albuquerque on Sept 24.
We continue to send POISON WIND to film festivals and are very thankful for the 4 we have been screened at so far. The Natural Resources Defense Council asked for a copy of the film and that went out last week. The film will be available for purchase beginning Sept 6 and I'll post information on ordering the DVD by then. The single of
BREEZE IN THE WIND by CLAN II DESTINE will be available too.

Film Festival News

Co-producer, Norman Patrick Brown, and I are proud to announce that POISON WIND has been accepted at the TALKING STICK FILM FESTIVAL, taking place at the Hotel Santa Fe: June 21-26. We also received word that POISON WIND has been added to the line-up at the 4th Annual GLOBIANS World & Cultural Documentary Film Festival in Potsdam, Germany on Aug 8-17.The film will also be shown at FORT LEWIS COLLEGE: The Center of Southwest Studies which is presenting: Connections : Earth + Artist=A Tribute Art Show in Resistance to Desert Rock on June 22. We are very honored and grateful to be included in both these festivals!

Clan II destine recording 'Breeze in the Wind'

Dave Montour

Editing 4 the finish line

Hi everyone! I realize it has been a long time since I last posted but we have been busy editing POISON WIND. Right now we are working each day to have the film "locked" by the end of next week. The Phoenix Film Festival final submission date is 12/14 and so are a few other festivals I am entering the movie into.
A quick update regarding Clan II destine! Dave Montour and the band came into the studio 2 weeks ago and recorded 'Breeze in the Wind' for the film. Its really terrific and will be a shining point in the movie. I'll post some pics from the recording session later on. This past weekend we scooted over to New Mexico and recreated scenes, that show what conditions were like for the miners.
Right now its back into the "editing cave..."

4th Annual Southwest Native American Film Festival

I received word today that the preview clip for POISON WIND will screen at the Coconino Center for the Arts in Flagstaff on October 6th between 2 and 4:30 pm! We have a 6 minute clip that is being shown as a work in progress. (At this point our final cut will be running almost an hour in length.) Co-producer Norman Patrick Brown and I will be in attendance...as will Damon Watahomigie from Havasupai. Music news: Dave Montour of Clan/Destine has been awesome and the song he has written for the film is tentivly titled: 'Breeze in the Wind.' I meet with Dave again on Monday morning and I'll post more on that next week. The POISON WIND clip had an unscheduled screening this afternoon at the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, AZ. A room filled with almost 100 or so Faculty and Deans gave the clip an amazing response, which I am very thankful for. This is the school that has donated the Hi Def cameras and the editing equipment to us..so the documentary could be made. This coming week their PR team will be sending out a press release for the film and I will post about that when I have a copy.
This past week we went back up to the Grand Canyon to interview a member of the Walapai. Uranium mining interests have been pressuring them since this past Spring about mining on their land. This has to be stopped.
It seems right that the film began in the Grand Canyon when I met Damon there almost a year ago. Now it has come back to the Canyon with our final interview....full circle.

Film & Music News

Hi, Everyone! Last week I sent a DVD with our clip out to a few people and one of them was Michael Blake...who won the Academy Award for writing DANCES WITH WOLVES. We had the opportunity to speak with him a few months ago, at the Smoki Museum in Prescott, AZ, and I was hoping, that he might take a moment to watch our 6 minute clip and respond. Well, I have to tell you he called me yesterday and said, "If the documentary stays with the level of what you have in the clip...I think it will be tremendous." (direct quote) He said his only complaint was that the clip made him want to see more! (yeah!) I spoke with him for almost an hour Monday morning about the movie and he said that he was honored to be a part of it. (I almost fell out of my seat!) Having Mr. Blake's support hopefully may help us get into a few film festivals. In any event, I feel we are on the right track with how we are putting this together and it seems to be hitting a cord with folks. He also told me he would be there to help POISON WIND thru to the very end.
I also met with Dave A. Montour of Clan/Destine on Tuesday and he has a song he wrote awhile ago that he thinks might work for the film. It is AWESOME!! He also showed me a beautiful flute he's carving...so beautiful.
IMDB for Michael Blake filmography: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086658/
Clan/Destine: http://www.myspace.com/clandestinerezdawgs
Keep everyone posted! Please feel free to email me and for a DVD of the teaser clip.