Today’s Indians Ignored

Angela Aleiss’ June 29 Counterpunch about the absence of American Indian directors among the new breed of “minority” filmmakers (“American Indian Filmmakers Ignored”) is only part of the story. There is now interest in films that portray frontier-era American Indians, so “Dances With Wolves” and “Last of the Mohicans” got made. But the major studios, TV networks and the independent production community still refuse any project depicting contemporary Indians and their problems as more than peripheral characters.

The industry’s perception is that the viewing public has no interest in contemporary American Indians. If that’s true, then few American Indian directors will get their projects made until they refocus on non-Indian stories or on historical films.

MARVIN J. WOLF

Los Angeles