Sons & Daughters of Thunder

"Thunder" Filmmakers to Premiere New Documentaries on Ioway Indians Feb. 23

Delegations from the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska will return to their ancestral homeland of Iowa to attend the world premiere of Lost Nation: The Ioway 2 & 3 at the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History, 17 N. Clinton St., Macbride Hall Auditorium in Iowa City on Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.  Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films, producers of the Emmy® nominated documentary Country School: One Room-One Nation and the award-winning Lost Nation: The Ioway 1will join the Ioway and other film participants for Q&A following the screenings.

When the Ioway were forcibly removed from their ancestral homeland of Iowa in 1837 to a reservation on the border of Nebraska and Northeast Kansas, Ioway leader White Cloud (The Younger) believed his people must relocate to survive. But intermarriage, broken treaties and the end of communal living led to a split in 1878 and the establishment of a second Ioway tribe in Oklahoma. Both tribes endured hardship and challenges to their traditions and culture to achieve successful land claims and self-determination in the 1970s. Lost Nation: The Ioway 2 & 3 brings the dramatic Ioway story full circle.

“I believe all the tribes had their trail of tears, said Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma Tribal Elder Joyce Big Soldier-Miller. “They all suffered--all those Indians who made those treks away from their former homelands.”

“It’s always good to look at the past and remember that it does affect the future,” said Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska tribal member Reuben Ironhorse-Kent. “The ancestors did the best they could with what they had.”

Ioway Elders and tribal members join other Native scholars, historians, archaeologists and anthropologists to tell the dramatic and true story of the small tribe that once claimed the territory between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers from Pipestone, Minnesota to St. Louis. The state of Iowa takes its name from the Ioway Tribe.

In addition to the premiere, the public is welcome to visit the new Ioway exhibit at the Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center in Toddville, Iowa (40 minutes north of Iowa City), a special Ioway display and premiere reception in the Iowa Hall at the Museum of Natural History from 5:30pm until 6:30pm.

The world premiere of Lost Nation: The Ioway 2&3 is hosted by the Museum of Natural History, University of Iowa, 17 N. Clinton, Macbride Hall Auditorium, Iowa City, Iowa and will take place on Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. The films contain mature themes and historical images that may be disturbing to young children.  A premiere reception will take place from 5:30pm-6:30pm in the Museum's Iowa Hall.

The documentaries will continue screening throughout the U.S. and will be released on a single full-featured DVD in April 2013. An alternative soundtrack in the nearly extinct Ioway language will be offered on the DVD. Broadcasts on Midwestern PBS stations are slated for 2013.

Lost Nation: The Ioway 2&3 was partially funded by grants from Humanities Iowa and Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, as well as humanities councils in Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and South Dakota, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Rundles are currently in production on the new docudrama Sons & Daughters of Thunder with co-producers Kent and Earlene Hawley.  The movie is based on the critically-acclaimed play written by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter.  The film is slated for release in 2014.

"Sons & Daughters of Thunder" Producers' Award-Winning Documentary to Broadcast on IPTV-PBS and WQPT-PBS

Courtesy Fourth Wall Films. Copyright 2004.

2012 marks a significant anniversary in Southwest Iowa--a tragic anniversary.  It is the centennial anniversary of Iowa's worst mass murder, and historic sites, museums and public television stations are making sure the story is remembered and never forgotten. 

As part of that effort, Sons & Daughters of Thunder producers Kelly and Tammy Rundle's award-winning documentary Villisca: Living with a Mystery will be broadcast on IPTV-PBS and WQPT-PBS during the month of June to commemorate the altering event in Iowa history (check your local listings).

In addition to PBS showings, the Montgomery County History Center in Red Oak, Iowa will feature the film on Sunday, June 10th, 2012 (the 100th-anniversary date) at 2:00 p.m.  Organized by History Center Director David McFarland and co-sponsored by the Villisca Historical Society, the commemorative event will include a Q&A following the documentary with the filmmakers and Dr. Edgar Epperly, the foremost historical authority on the still-unsolved crime.

Sometime during the night of Monday, June 10, 1912, a person or persons unknown entered a modest house in Villisca, Iowa and bludgeoned to death Josiah B. Moore, his wife Sara, and their children Herman, Katherine, Boyd, and Paul and overnight guests Lena and Ina Stillinger. The crime, known thereafter as the “Villisca axe murders”, is the most notorious mystery in Iowa history. The tragedy spawned nearly ten years of grand jury investigations and three sensational trials all centered around the Montgomery County Court House in Red Oak. The case made and broke political careers and led to the establishment of the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation. The murders also split residents of the small community of Villisca, Iowa over the guilt or innocence of a local suspect, Iowa State Senator Frank Fernando Jones.

One hundred years later, the tragic unsolved murder now attracts visitors and tourists to the privately-owned Villisca Ax Murder House. The mystery has generated books, a play, paranormal investigations, television programs, a fictional film and feature-length documentary. The Rundles' Villisca: Living with a Mystery premiered in 2004, enjoyed a limited theatrical release in over 60 cities including Los Angeles where it qualified for the 2005 Academy Award® competition. The film screened in Red Oak in 2004 in the courtroom where the 1916 and 1917 axe murder trials took place. Villisca is still available nationally on DVD from online and conventional retailers and it can be rented from Netflix and Family Video. Broadcasts continue on IPTV, WQPT and other PBS stations in 2012.

The critically-acclaimed documentary tells the epic true story of the Children's Day axe murders and the chaos and division that followed. The husband and wife team combined rare period photographs, computer animation, original art, limited re-enactments, and fascinating interviews with historians, eye-witnesses, town residents, and forensic experts to shed light on the spellbinding mystery and to dramatically reveal the face of a new suspect.

The Rundles are also offering a sneak preview of their 25-minute documentary AXMAN.  It was in 1955, when a young college student named Edgar Epperly began researching the details behind Iowa's worst mass homicide, the 1912 Villisca Axe Murders. Now, nearly 60 years later, the retired college professor is still actively searching for a solution to the crime. Exclusive interviews with Epperly and others close to his unique work reveal the secret reason behind his dogged devotion to America's greatest unsolved mystery.

Courtesy Fourth Wall Films. Copyright 2011.

The Rundles' award-winning feature-length documentary, Country School: One Room - One Nation will also screen at the History Center on Saturday, June 9, 2012 at 2 p.m. The film features the Pittsburg School in Red Oak, the Cramer School in Stanton, and the Goldenrod school in Clarinda.  Country School recently won a Telly Award for "Excellence in a Television Documentary".

Stepping outside their work on historical documentaries, Kelly and Tammy have partnered with Kent and Earlene Hawley of Waverly, Iowa to produce the docudrama Sons and Daughters of Thunder.  The film is based on the critically-acclaimed play by Earlene and tells the unforgettable true story of the beginning of the end of slavery in America. 

Courtesy Fourth Wall Films. Copyright 2011.

The Rundles began production on the project in Cincinnati, Ohio last fall and spent time at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House meeting with representatives.  Production continues in July 2012 and in the Fall.  Fundraising for the project is underway and completion of the film is anticipated in 2013.  For more information on how to help support Sons and Daughters of Thunder visit www.LaneRebelsMovie.com or email fourthwallfilms@aol.com. 

View the film's teaser here: THUNDER TEASER LINK.

Actress Kimberly Furness and Curtainbox Theatre Co. Hosts "Thunder" Screenplay Reading

 
Professional actors took part in the cold read of the "Sons & Daughters of Thunder"
screenplay at the Curtainbox Theatre Co.  The reading was organized and hosted by
Curtainbox director and actress Kimberly Furness.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder came to life on Sunday, August 14, 2011 when a group of fifteen professional actors gathered at the Curtainbox Theatre Co. rehearsal studio in Davenport, Iowa to do a cold reading of the screenplay.  The event was organized and hosted by actress/producer/director Kimberly Furness.  Thunder director Kelly and producer Tammy Rundle, and producers Kent and Earlene Hawley also attended.

 
 Thunder Producers Earlene and Kent Hawley.

Based on the critically-acclaimed play by Earlene Hawley & Curtis Heeter, Sons & Daughters of Thunder tells the unforgettable true story of the beginning of the end of slavery in America.

The first public debates about the abolition of slavery were undertaken by students of Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1834.  Organized by Theodore Weld, one of the architects of the abolitionist movement, the shocking discussions sparked intense controversy and awakened a young Harriet Beecher Stowe to the horrors of slavery.  When school trustees slapped a gag order on the "Lane Rebels," most of the students left the school in collective protest. Years later, Harriet's novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was the second best-selling book in the world after the Bible.

Actors gathered in the Curtainbox Theatre studio and were assigned characters to portray.  Following the two-hour reading, most of the actors participated in a discussion about the screenplay.

Actors that took part in the reading: Daniel Sheridan read Theodore Weld; Mike Schulz read Lyman Beecher and Frederick Douglass; Jessica Sheridan read Harriet Beecher; Kimberly Furness read Catharine Beecher; Tom Walljasper read Henry Biggs; Louis Hare read Judge Wright; Dee Canfield read Older Harriet; Daniel Rairdin-Hale read Calvin Stowe; Tom Taylor read Professor Morgan and William Allen; Joe Goodall read Student James Thome; Joseph Maddox read Student James Bradley; Tyson Danner read Augustus Waddles and Student Streeter; Jessica Denney read Student Robinson; Don Abbott read Student Ruggles; and Corinne Johnson read Mrs. Beecher and camera/stage directions.

 
"Sons & Daughters of Thunder" director Kelly Rundle, Curtainbox Theatre Co. director and actress
Kimberly Furness and "Thunder" producer Tammy Rundle.

Fundraising for the film project continues.  Location shooting in Ohio is scheduled for fall 2011.  Casting for the film is anticipated to take place in the spring of 2012 with the majority of production slated to begin in autumn 2012.

Our sincere thanks goes out to Kimberly Furness and the Curtainbox Theatre Co. for organizing and hosting this memorable event.  We are also grateful to the actors who brought the pages to life.  Thanks also to playwright and producer Earlene Hawley and producer Kent Hawley for attending.

Curtainbox Theatre Co. to Host "Sons & Daughters of Thunder" Screenplay Reading

 

Tammy and Kelly Rundle's new docudrama Sons & Daughters of Thunder based on the critically-acclaimed play by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter begins the first phase of production with a private read-through of the screenplay.

Kimberly Furness, acclaimed actress, producer, director and president of the Curtainbox Theatre Co., will host the read-through event on Sunday, August 14, 2011 in Davenport, Iowa.

Sons & Daughters of Thunder tells the unforgettable story of the public student-sponsored debates at Cincinnati's Lane Seminary on the divisive subject of abolition and the awakening of a young Harriet Beecher Stowe to the horrors of slavery.  The "Lane Debates" marked the beginning of the end of slavery in America.

Fundraising for the project continues with casting and film production slated for 2012.

"Sons & Daughters of Thunder" is a co-production of Fourth Wall Films and Kent and Earlene Hawley.  Tentative release of the motion picture is planned for 2013.

Contact FourthWallFilms@aol.com for more information.