Reel Injun
Directors: Neil Diamond, Catherine Bainbridge, and Jeremiah Hayes
Canada | 2009 | 85 minutes | English
D.C. Premiere

A humorous mash up of more than 50 years of Hollywood film stereotypes of American Indians. Playing off of the classic rivalry of cowboys and Indians, director Neil Diamond (Canadian First Nation Cree) explores how Hollywood’s stoic, stereotypical portrayals of the American Indian have informed—and misinformed—the world’s perception of Native Americans. Framed by a travelogue, the film follows Diamond as he travels from northwest Canada to Hollywood, interviewing actors, activists, directors, and writers and visiting famous filming locations. An Official Selection at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, Reel Injun is a lighthearted and humorous, yet deep, documentary with appearances by Clint Eastwood, Jim Jarmusch, Sacheen Littlefeather, the Native American activist who declined the 1973 Best Actor Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando as a protest against the mistreatment of Native Americans, and many more well-known Hollywood characters. Reel Injun has recently been nominated for 4 Gemini Awards, including Best Direction in a Documentary Program.

“A powerful, myth-busting documentary which manages to humanize America’s unfairly-marginalized indigenous peoples, albeit belatedly.”
-Kam Williams, NewsBlaze

Neil Diamond
Director/Writer
The director of Reel Injun and one of Canada’s foremost Aboriginal filmmakers, Neil Diamond hails from the Cree community of Waskaganish, on the coast of James Bay. After following the trail of the Hollywood Indian from one end of the continent to the other to make Reel Injun, Neil was back on the road again in 2010 to appear with his film at festivals across North America and around the world. His recent credits also include The Last Explorer (2009), a feature-length docudrama for APTN retracing the steps of Diamond’s own great uncle, Aboriginal guide George Elson, on an ill-fated voyage into the heart of uncharted Labrador.

An integral part of the Rezolution Pictures International creative team, Neil has directed two award-winning documentaries. One More River (2004), a behind-the-scenes look at the Quebec Cree’s decision to accept another hydro project on their land, was named Best Documentary at the Rendez-vous du cinéma québecois, while awards for Heavy Metal: A Mining Disaster in Northern Quebec (2004) included Top Prize and Audience Pick at Norway’s Riddu Riddu Festival.

Neil also directed three seasons of DAB IYIYUU, the six-part series for APTN about Cree elders. His 2001 directorial debut, Cree Spoken Here, garnered the Telefilm/APTN award for Best Aboriginal Documentary.

In 1993, Diamond co-founded The Nation, the first news magazine to serve the Cree of northern Quebec and Ontario. His columns “Rez Notes” and “The Last Line” offer edgy, irreverent perspectives on the Cree issues of the day.

Neil is also an award-winning photographer whose work was used in the James Bay Cree’s international campaign to stop the construction of more Hydro Quebec dams on their land.

There will be a discussion with Neil Diamond following the screening

View the trailer of Reel Injun here

Co-hosted with ITVS.