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.
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Documentary Trailer on Youtube:
http://youtu.be/MhmBfDNOUTU
Website: Sidney Has No Horses the Movie
http://sidneyhasnohorsesthemovie.com
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Sidney Hasnohorse is a Medicine Man, hunter, artist . . . and Chief. His lineage is legendary, his ceremonies are authentic yet brutal. The documentary is a rare emersion into the ancient and holistic world-view binding a Lakota community to its ancestors and The Great Mystery.
Sidney Has No Horses: Oglala Lakota Medicine Man 