Deep Access Documentaries: Year End Accomplishments, Updates, & Plans

Hello,

Welcome back to the Prairie-Ice Newsletter. To jog your memory, we’ve been developing two documentaries . . .

By the time both are finalized I will have spent 20-years immersed in extreme landscapes and intense cultures.   

Many are fascinated yet very few ever gain access to the landscapes of Antarctica or Native Cultures in their backyards.

The name Prairie-Ice represents both projects. But in 2017 we added the subtitle, “Deep Access” to reflect the source and motivation behind both films.

Developing before your eyes – Chronicled in the Director’s Blog: 

1:  The primary Documentary about an  Oglala Lakota Medicine Man explores his ancient culture and modern struggle to “live” an indigenous religion & spiritual ecology. 

2:   Deep Field Antarctica documents a 9 seasons experience of the most Remote & Isolated field camps in the world. 

In both cases, Prairie-Ice filmmakers maintained Deep Access for over a decade. 

On a personal level, the Director used both experiences to explore:

• Meaning in a Modern Civilizations,

• Spiritual Ecology, and

• Quantum Consciousness.

In 2018, this blog will become the release valve for many ancillary projects such as the “Ritual Poetry Project”, and “Thirty Years of Garbage in Nature”.

We will entangle a lifetime of poetry, essays, photography and video right here on this blog.

---

---

So . . . . .

Look through the blog above for our history and insights.

Look below for last year’s accomplishments and next year’s plans.

And look around for the social media and Newsletter links of your choice.

---

---

Looking Back – 2017

Salvatore Consalvi: Prairie-Ice Director-Producer

In 2017 we redefined the production vehicle for both documentaries. We are now “Prairie-Ice: Deep-Access Documentaries”.

The Prairie-Ice moniker always reflected both Landscapes & Cultures. But the new subtitle reflects commonalities between subjects and the motivation behind the filmmakers.

The first to be completed will be an  8-years investigation of an authentic, Lakota (Sioux) Medicine Man that led to 6-years engaged in his intense, often grueling, ceremonies.

The second sprang from 9-season in Antarctica documenting the most remote and isolated Deep-Field Camps on the planet.

Hit the Links for the many ways to follow our progress and

Look below to learn when you will be able to see the work.

https://www.facebook.com/documentaryinprogress/

 

LOOKING FORWARD – 2018

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Salvatore Consalvi
Director-Producer

Gross Edit: We’re going in hard in 2018 . . .

Without getting too personal, in 2017; we (I) consulted and Uber/Lyfted out of debt and raised enough for the “Gross-Edit” (Thanks to the Birthday Fundraiser).

This first/ gross edit is the director’s cut. from that conceptual edit we’ll develop a rough narrative. From there we polish, refine, and augment the narrative. We do the same for audio and ancillary visuals  . . . adding  animation if we can afford it.

It’s a very exciting time!

The Director will:
1]   Re-watch and relive all 70-hours of interviews.
2]   Assemble clips into a narrative structure.
3]   Reveal Ancient Wisdom & Modern Trauma.

We’ll organize the disparate concepts of native culture, spirituality, intergenerational trauma, and consciousness into 4 narratives resembling 4 prayer-rounds. In the first 4-chapters will become a journey around Sundance Tree. The next two chapters will represent the third demention; we will touch Grandmother Earth and reach up to Granthfather Sky in thanks. The last Chapter will look beyond to Wakan Tanka – The Great Mystery.

---

---

 

Other Projects in 2018 :

 

1. A push to grow our social media family in preparation for . . .
2. A crowdfunding effort this spring or summer (IndiGoGo, perhaps Seed & Spark).
3. Continued efforts to self-fund the Rough/Gross Edit.
4. Completing the Gross Edit myself.
5. Fund the Rough Edit and
6. Assembling the team to execute the Rough & Final edits.

Yes, we have a lot on our plate . . .

Documentary Trailer: The Last Ghost Dancer
https://youtu.be/mayw3Q25ezo

Newsletter: Prairie-Ice – Deep Access Documentaries
http://eepurl.com/deBMWr

Website: Sidney Has No Horses – The Last Ghost Dancer 

http://sidneyhasnohorsesthemovie.com

Facebook – Prairie: The Last Ghost Dancer
http://facebook.com/documentaryinprogress

Facebook – Ice: Deep Field Antarctica           

https://facebook.com/deepfieldantarctica/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DocHasNoHorse

 Prairie-Ice Deep Access Graphics

Adele Penguins, Humans, & Mt Erebus, Antarctica

 

Read Full Post »

The Last Ghost Dancer: The Interview that Sparked the Decade Long Documentary & Odyssey of Consciousness

Within hours of their first meeting, Oglala Lakota Medicine Man, Sidney Hasnohorses, divulged the ultimate nature of his beliefs to filmmaker Salvatore Consalvi: “We do not practice our religion, we live our religion.” Taking place between a smoldering fire and the willow frame of a sweat lodge, these extemporaneous conversations were honest, courageous, and riveting.

Yet the words themselves felt like echoes of native wisdom from the intentions of grandfathers like famed ceremonial chief Frank Fools Crow. “There is natural power, and spiritual power.” His teachings connected the interview that night to much older and deeper lessons. “Without spiritual power we tend to work for ourselves. Accomplishments may be outstanding, yet we tend to subordinate and misuse the rest of creation.”

This documentary reveals a powerful tension between the beauty of Native American traditions, and the harsh realities of modern reservation life. Our account will superimpose casual storytelling, formal interviews, landscape studies, and social awareness. Visual effects, animation, video and photographic studies will portray mystical rituals, remote healing, modern reservation life, intergenerational trauma, and daily routines.

The interviews and research includes rare insight into the beliefs and ancient rites critical to the survival of the Lakota. We learn that Sidney comes from a long lineage of Holy Men tasked by the Spirit World with passing the religion to future generations and to a modern world in dire need of native wisdom. However sacred ceremonies or private rituals were never invasively recorded, rather those events will be depicted creatively, on the emotional plane.

We are currently fundraising for post-production. Keep an eye on our progress here and all over social media.

 

 

Read Full Post »

Interview Clips from the Last Ghost Dancer

First Interview: Sidney Hasnohorses Introduction

Interview Clips: Peyote, Spiritual Doubt, Family Conflict, and Indigenous Way of Life

 

Interview Clips – Medicine Man: Consciousness in the Plant and Animal Nations

Interview Clips, Lakota Medicine Man: Spirit Travel and visitations from the World Behind his One

Interview Clips: Kitchen Table Talks – Hunting, Humor, & Hallucinogens

Interview Clips – Lakota Medicine Man Reveals both his Sordid and Profoundly Spiritual Past

Interview Clip : Professor Dale Stover on Lakota Religious Identity & cultural conflicts.

Interview Clips: Peyote, Spiritual Doubt, Family Conflict, and Indigenous Way of Life

Read Full Post »

Salvatore Consalvi on “Sidney Has No Horses”

Last Year Matt Fagerholm of Indie Outlook fame interviewed me.

This year I was asked to start dropping names for a grant proposal . . . but here is a link to the interview.

 Salvatore Consalvi on “Sidney Has No Horses”.

Read Full Post »

Documentary Still In Progress: After a short break that is . . .

After returning from a great trip to Portland and Seattle I was drawn into some much needed Environmental Consulting work.

As a result, I’ve been very lax with the #SocialMedia projects begun after the Digital Professional Institute classwork, but plan to get back up and running.

I have not stopped work on the project however and though I do not consider the reading I do to be strictly “research”, I have continued  to find and read fantastic books from dedicated scholars that will no doubt influence the final edit of the film.

The latest is “American Holocaust” by David Stannard. In painting an accurate, well researched picture of the cultural landscape Europeans found when they arrived, and the practices they employed against them, I can better explore and understand the concept of #intergenerational trauma.

When finished I will return to more spiritual topics with Sacred Language by  William Powers and “The Ghost Dance Religion” by James Mooney; but for now the truth of our greatest cultural horror; honestly and professionally presented by an exceptional scholar; has begun to affect my thoughts and dreams concerning this #Documentary project.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Stannard

American Holocaust: Wikapedia

Stannard’s research on the indigenous peoples of North and South America (including Hawaii)^[1] has produced the conclusion that Native Americans had undergone the “worst human holocaust the world had ever witnessed, roaring across two continents non-stop for four centuries and consuming the lives of countless tens of millions of people.

Read Full Post »

Flesh Offerings and the Spiritual Adventure – The Director Reveals Motivation behind the Indie Documentary; by Salvatore Consalvi

Sun Dance Flesh Offering – Pulling Back on the Rope, by Thomas Mails

It’s difficult writing about oneself and I remain uncertain about how much of my participation in the rituals I should share; but my motivation for continuing this “Documentary in Progress” does speak from one heart to the next; and I’m learning from it at the deepest levels of the human experience.  We are now planning to tell an intense story about the last seven years interviewing and practicing the most grueling Lakota ceremonies at Wakpamni Lake on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

For those of us suspecting that there is far more to reality and the human experience than consumers, spirits broken by modernity, can imagine; this documentary will reveal what mystical thinkers and Native American Medicine Men have saved for all of humanity. In this way, ancient wisdom will infuse the modern experience, and begin healing the ruptures in the fabric of our shared human consciousness.

Read Full Post »

Documentary In Progress Project Summary: 2014 Year-End

2014 Year-End Project Summary

Silhouette Crew at Work – Lens Flair

It has been five years since we; filmmakers Salvatore Consalvi was invited to the Wakpamni Lake Ceremonies to conduct a short interview of iconic Medicine Man Sidney Hasnohorse. By the second year of filming we compiled over 30 hours of candid interviews covering spirituality, Lakota history, consciousness, religious identity, and life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota

So many supporters openly wondered why we didn’t just compile a 90-minute film and move on to other projects.

The Hasnohorse kitchen table and Lakota Spiritual Forum

But each year we experienced mystical phenomenon that had us running home to research what we had seen; learned of the Medicine Lineage; or felt in ceremony. Soon enough we were re-working our own understanding of reality and consciousness (#QuantumIndian). Inevitably Sidney’s teachings of Lakota cosmology and spirituality; casually discussed around the kitchen table; entwined with concepts from comparative religious studies, social justice, and even quantum physics. And each year we were allowed to participate in more intense rituals.

Inevitably, I (Director Salvatore Consalvi) asked to pay the Medicine Man and his Ancestors back in the traditional way. So in year three of filming I went “on the hill” for a 2-day Vision Quest; in thanks for the access, patience, and education we received. I attempted to give thanks in the same way a Lakota patient repays the spirit world for a cure or a Native family gives thanks for good fortune of another kind.

Being of European decent it was uncertain what the spirit world would ask of me, if acknowledging me at all. I subsequently

embarked on a four-year cycle of Vision Quest (Humbelechapi), Sun and Ghost Dances. In the first Sun Dance I gave flesh during the warrior round; in year two a celestial sign required I hang from the Ceremonial Tree; in year three I fell while giving flesh and broke my back.

This year, as my middle-aged body heals, I attempt to prepare my mind for the fourth and final year of giving back for the documentary. So, 2015 will be perfect time to begin Post-Production in earnest.

The documentary process and ceremonial mind will entangle further as we prepare to support the ceremonies while building a rough edit from nearly 80 hours of interviews. Stay tuned for our plans for next year.

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Salvatore Consalvi (@dochasnohorse)

Documentary Trailer on Youtube:
http://youtu.be/MhmBfDNOUTU
Website: Sidney Has No Horses the Movie
http://sidneyhasnohorsesthemovie.com
Donate Now – Our Network for Good Partners:
https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/sidneyhasnohorsesthemovie

Read Full Post »

History of the Documentary in Progress: First Interview Captivates Filmmakers and Usurps Antarctica Google

First Interview Captivates Filmmakers and Usurps Documentary Antarctica

Sidney Hasnohorse Smoking

Sidney HasNoHorse (link website) is an authentic, modern-day medicine man. He is genuine, spiritual and yet tragically complicated. The night of the first interview was intense. An deeply mystical mood hung over the house and grounds as the Wakpamni Prayer Circle prepared for ceremony. Yet, for reasons that would take years to understand, there was also an intense anxiety, and fear of imminent violence.

The filmmakers (link-bio page) were stunned on many levels. And we continue to unravel the meaning beneath the legends, rituals, and ceremonies still holding together an indigenous mind and its earth-religion.

Buffalo Skull at Ancestral Teachings

Upon walking into the crowded kitchen as the Circle prepared for the 4-day Ceremony of prayer, hunger, flesh-offerings, it was apparent they were also creating connections to the spirit world. Subsequently for the filmmakers, there was an almost immediate tearing apart of perceptions, expectations, and cultural morays.

That modern anxiety however would diminish behind a thick and mystical mood as the ceremonial mind was building before our eyes. Then as midnight approached, though exhausted, Sidney turned to us and said, “We can do the interview now.” It would be the last chance to talk for four days.

Interview after the Hunt: Fall 2011

The first hour-long interview (http://youtu.be/WLAF2aAfkzA) was honest, extemporaneous, and rich in culture and spirituality. To the sound of dogs wailing and wind howling through the plywood shacks, we sacrificed tobacco to the fire and asked the Ancestors for permission to learn from their Medicine Man. We struggled with extension cords, incandescent light bulbs, squeaking shed doors and playful Lakota spirits knocking our camera about.

He ended seconds before the tape ran out; one-hour: four-minutes and change. We knew immediately that the life story that unfolded before us was honest and courageous. He revealed more than we could ask for; from the first visions that revealed his spiritual gifts; through bouts of ego, anger, alcohol and drug abuse that almost destroyed him. He held nothing back and opened himself to derision and ridicule from native people, and modern scientists alike.

Frank Fools Crow, Sidney’s Primary Teacher

In that way, in traditional cadence and stentorian tone, an authentic medicine man with direct ties to the most powerful warriors and healers of the colonial age gave us the first of many powerful interviews; an interview of a lifetime (Twitter #SageRope). I turned to Brigitte and said, “There is a feature-length doc in this guy.” The next year we returned from Antarctica and I shelved that documentary. We’ve been returning to the Pine Ridge for interviews and ceremony ever since.

Now, at this point in the relationship between filmmakers and Medicine Man, we sit around that same kitchen table and discuss how the language of quantum physics (Twitter #QuantumIndian) may well describe the Lakota Legends and the World Behind this One.

Newsletter Subscription Link

Documentary Trailer on Youtube:
http://youtu.be/MhmBfDNOUTU
Website: Sidney Has No Horses the Movie
http://sidneyhasnohorsesthemovie.com
Donate Now – Our Network for Good Partners:
https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/sidneyhasnohorsesthemovie

Name(required)

Email(required)

Website

Comment(required)

Submit

Δ

Read Full Post »

Social Media Network: In Progress Newsletter Article- November 2014 Google

Documentary filmmaking can become a frustrating balance between the filmmaker’s ultimate motivation and the shot lists, research, editing, audience building . . . and, of course, fundraising.

However when the subject matter is indigenous spirituality and consciousness, the tension exists between the desire to live the experience or to tell the story; to “live the religion,”  as apposed to practicing a ritual, as Sidney made clear during that first interview.

Buffalo Skull Drying at Ancestral Teachings

It often feels that both cannot be accomplished, and some filmmakers, I believe, just tell the story about telling the story. What is learned; and how the subject, landscape, or topic shapes the human experience gets lost in production.

We however are determined to tell the original story, down to the quantum level, and have been slowly building the team and learning the skills necessary to simultaneously research, edit, write, fundraise and build an audience.

Most recently, I took a 10-week practical course at Digital Professional Institute, and Tribeca Flashpoint Academy. The instructors were a fantastic mix of digital marketing professionals with incredible track records building social media platforms.

Stay Tuned for the December In Progress newsletter when I summarize what we learned and how we plan to unleash the crowdfunding campaign.

We are organizing the posts about the  Filmmaking Process on Twitter at #Prairie-Ice

Posts about the Social Media Platform on Twitter at #DocInProgress  http://bit.ly/twitter-DocInProgress

And the Full Story of quantum physics entangling with Sidney’s Lineage organized here at #QuantumIndian http://bit.ly/Twitter-QuantumIndian

Newsletter – Documentary in  Progress
http://bit.ly/Newsletter-DocHasNoHorse
Documentary Trailer on Youtube:
http://youtu.be/MhmBfDNOUTU
Website: Sidney Has No Horses the Movie
http://sidneyhasnohorsesthemovie.com
Donate Now – Our Network for Good Partners:
https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/sidneyhasnohorsesthemovie
Facebook Links:
http://facebook.com/documentaryinprogress

Name(required)

Email(required)

Website

Comment(required)

Submit

Δ

Read Full Post »

Executive Producer Brigitte Timmerman: In Progress Newsletter Article – November 2014 Google

Executive Producer Brigitte Timmerman: The Spark that Ignited a Documentary

by Salvatore Consalvi

Executive Producer: Brigitte Timmerman

 

Brigitte Timmerman was the spark that ignited this Documentary in Progress. While developing the documentary, “Fatima”, about Iraqi refugees and attending the Documentary Labs at Chicago Filmmakers , she was invited to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota for a Sweat Lodge Ceremony.

Her first Sweat Lodge Ceremony in 2009 was a very intense experience on its own, but she found it more revealing that people from the dominant culture can live miles from fascinating, indigenous populations and know very little about them; or openly disrespect them. So when the Medicine Man invited her to return for the Sun Dance Ceremony she asked him to produce a short interview to submit to the National Archives.

Brigitte and Fatima

I had been impressed that she gained access to the United Nations Higher Commission of Refugees (UNHCR) while filming “Fatima”; and had interviewed Daniel Shore, Howard Buffet, and Madeline Albright. So when she asked me to join the crew, I jumped at the chance to witness the ceremony.

 

Brigitte Timmerman on the Ranch

 

Brigitte was raised in a cattle ranching family in Springfield, Nebraska and spent her summers as a child on ranches very close to the Pine Ridge. For decades her father supported Sidney’s ceremonies with firewood and beef yet she never visited the Medicine Man or his Circle.

 

Brigitte attended Ft. Lewis College in Durango, Colorado from 87’-92’ where she wrote, produced and aired content on KDUR’s college radio station. She has also completed several documentary film Labs and classes at Chicago Filmmakers and continuing education classes in Feature Film Production at the Hollywood Film Institute. She was first drawn to Native American topics at her college by the Navajo and Southern Ute tribes.

 

Brigitte as Producer on the Pine Ridge

 

Reviewing her work at Chicago Filmmakers Labs, I was impressed that she gained access to the United Nations Higher Commission of Refugees (UNHCR) while filming “Fatima”; and had interviewed Daniel Shore, Howard Buffet, and Madeline Albright. So when she asked me to join the crew, I jumped at the chance to witness the ceremony and interview an authentic Medicine Man.

 

 

 

Learn more about Brigitte Timmerman and how she became the Executive Produce of this Documentary in Progress by following our Blog and Subscribe to the Newsletter .

Newsletter – Documentary in  Progress
http://bit.ly/Newsletter-DocHasNoHorse
Documentary Trailer on Youtube:
http://youtu.be/MhmBfDNOUTU
Website: Sidney Has No Horses the Movie
http://sidneyhasnohorsesthemovie.com
Donate Now – Our Network for Good Partners:
https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/sidneyhasnohorsesthemovie
Facebook Links:
http://facebook.com/documentaryinprogress

Name(required)

Email(required)

Website

Comment(required)

Submit

Δ

Read Full Post »