Yada Yada

Share the Wealth

Lost Tribes

One September Morning

In eight brief minutes, YADA YADA portrays one moment of historic reality and contrasts it with modern history in the making.

Stan “The Man” Henry is the brash host of a local Austin, Texas radio call-in show. On a particular September morning in 2001, he goes through his usual live routine, calculating and filtering comments surrounding national identity and the ownership of history. He finally meets his match when he tries to tone down the meaning of the words spoken by one Native American caller.

Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival (2002)

Official Selection - Austin Film Festival (2002)

First People’s Film and Video Festival

Montreal, Canada (2002)

Winner - Teueikan Prize in Creation Category

PBS Broadcast Premiere on groundbreaking series ColorVison (2003-2005)

Official Selection - Native American Film + Video Festival (2003)

Absurd Reality?

Shot in the style of a political cartoon, SHARE THE WEALTH, a 35mm narrative short film, situates a homeless middle-aged Native American woman on a busy city street. Thanks to a new “homeless tax” incurred by the government, she must raise the dollar she now owes.  She finally catches a break when someone hands her a dollar, joining a long line of other panhandlers and waits her turn to pay her dues.

This ironic parable follows the multi-faceted relationship this Native woman has with her urban environment. 

2009 Spring Broadcast Premiere on PBS series The Territory

Premiered at 2006 Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian Native Film + Video Festival, NYC

2007 Cannes Film Festival, Short Film Corner Selection

2007 Santa Fe Film Festival

2007 Cine Las Americas Film Festival, Austin

2007 ImagineNative Film Festival, Toronto

Honorable Mention, 2007 Fargo Film Festival

2007 American Indian Film Festival, San Francisco

American Dreams

Lost Tribes, a feature documentary, explores the quintessential American issues of free speech, tolerance, and ethnic pride against the backdrop of the Columbus Day controversy in Denver, Colorado.  Since 1992, the Denver Italian-American community has proudly and publicly celebrated Columbus Day, long a part of the city’s history and character, much to the dismay of the local chapter of the American Indian Movement (AIM), a group equally determined in their quest to vilify the man credited with “discovering America.”  Both sides are passionate about these very personal issues of identity, and in their own view, both sides have history on their side.  Lost Tribes engages audiences on issues of freedom of speech, political correctness, the ownership of history, and what it means to be an “American” through this unique conflict. 

Dir:  Bennie Klain

2002

16mm, Narrative, 8:00

Dir:  Bennie Klain

2006

35mm, Experimental, 8:00

Dir:  Bennie Klain

In Postproduction,

Documentary, DV, 56:40