Lost Nation: The Ioway

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Indigenous People's Day Replaces Columbus Day Throughout U.S.

By Jake Webster
Iowa State Daily

Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a proclamation in 2018 declaring that the second Monday in October be acknowledged as “Indigenous Peoples' Day” in Iowa.

Traditionally, the second Monday in October was celebrated as “Columbus Day” and still is in many jurisdictions, but the name of that holiday receives criticism for seeming to celebrate the role Christopher Columbus played in the genocide of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

"This day recognizes the land now known as the State of Iowa, named in recognition of the Iowa Tribe, as well as the language used to identify many of our lakes, rivers, cities, counties, schools, buildings and considerably more, and reflects the inherent imprint of Indigenous Peoples," said the Iowa Department of Human Rights in a statement at the time. "This land has been home to Indigenous People since time immemorial, and without whom, the building of this state would not have been possible."

After the arrival of Columbus in the Americas, the population of indigenous peoples across the continents decreased by up to 90 percent.

Read the rest of the Iowa State Daily story HERE.

To purchase Fourth Wall Films' award-winning Lost Nation: The Ioway DVD series, click HERE!

 

FLASH SALE! "Lost Nation: The Ioway - Part One" DVD

Order before MIDNIGHT C.S.T. on October 1, 2019 and your DVD is just $15.oo U.S. with FREE U.S. shipping.

This is an online order special only. NO CHECKS.

<--CLICK HERE to ORDER

FILM & DVD REVIEW: Last October, Moline-based filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle debuted their documentary Lost Nation: The Ioway, a 53-minute exploration of the Native Americans for whom the state of Iowa was named. And if you were one of the lucky ones who saw this Fourth Wall Films production at its October 11 premiere in Des Moines, its October 21 engagement at the Putnam Museum & IMAX Theatre, or its subsequent screenings throughout the Midwest, you likely already know that it's something special - a fantastically informative, beautifully constructed, and (not for nothing) thoroughly enjoyable piece of work.

Yet while the film is pretty great, its DVD is absolutely outstanding. Lost Nation: The Ioway has been made with intelligence and skill, and as Kelly Rundle says on one of the movie's two commentary tracks, viewers appear responsive to it "not because it's a Native American story, but because it's a human story." Fittingly, the bonus features have been assembled with as much thought, care, and filmmaking savvy - and joy - as Lost Nation itself. (There's even something akin to a gag reel.) The extras here do exactly what DVD extras ideally should: They entertain, but they also expand your appreciation of the movie by offering so much more to appreciate.

Chief among the DVD's pleasures is, of course, its feature attraction. (Kelly serves as Lost Nation's director, editor, and cinematographer, and he and wife Tammy share producing, writing, and sound credits.) Detailing the complex, heartbreaking history of the Ioway, a largely forgotten tribe of Native Americans, the movie contains lucid commentary from Midwestern scientists and scholars, and is filled with fascinating anecdotes; archaeologist Dale Henning discusses the days when one could travel much of Iowa by canoe, and artist Lance Foster offers insight into Ioway tools and dietary staples. (Singed raccoon, we learn, is a delicacy "so tender that it's like pork.") Among the 35 interviewees, however, more than a dozen are Ioway tribe members, and their recollections, imaginings, and visible pride and melancholy lend the history even greater social context. Lost Nation isn't merely interested in who the Ioway were, but how who they were shaped who they are now. (A similar effect was produced in the Rundles' chilling ax-murder documentary, Villisca: Living with a Mystery.)

Through the wonderfully knowledgeable and engaging on-screen participants, the Ioway's tragic past and still-vital present come alive without the filmmakers resorting to re-creation or voice-over, and the movie is aesthetically gorgeous, to boot. Filmed on location in eight U.S. states, the compositions are beautiful without calling undue attention to their beauty (shots never last longer than necessary), and even the rare detours into cliché are effective; scoring a film's prelude to Amazing Grace isn't exactly novel (or subtle), but the haunting flute rendition here sets the appropriate elegiac tone, and its selection becomes retrospectively moving when, 40 minutes later, we hear it performed in the language of the Ioway.

A bare-bones DVD edition of Lost Nation would, in itself, be worth celebrating. But given its plethora of bonus features, this package might just be indispensable, not least for the commentary track offered by linguist Jimm Goodtracks, who translates the entire film in the Ioway language. There are expanded and new interviews; charming, hugely informative commentary with the Rundles; a mini-doc filmed at a Native American powwow; an intriguing look at an archaeological dig with students from Luther College; and an extra that's almost stunningly smart - a 10-minute (on the dot!) version of the movie designed for elementary-school students that touches on nearly all of the film's main themes and provides ample opportunities for classroom discussion.

And then there's the DVD's "Behind the Scenes" feature, which is indispensable in its own right. We rarely think of the talking heads in documentaries as "performers," but as this utterly delightful featurette makes clear, accidents occur just as readily in nonfiction as in fiction: interviewees get tongue-tied and ask to start over; microphones are knocked over; outdoor filming halts while trains pass. (At one point, after an interviewee giggles at her momentary lack of composure, Kelly says, "We promise that won't be in the film," and Tammy adds, "It'll be in the outtakes.")

The Rundles treat their subject matter with the utmost respect, but there's also a playful spirit in both the feature and its bountiful extras - the joy of filmmakers clearly in love with movies, and the art of making movies. Lost Nation: The Ioway's final outtake finds a man speaking and suddenly coughing, telling the filmmakers, "I swallowed a bug." Which is exactly what Marlon Brando says in his most famous flub in the Apocalypse Now doc Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. There's no way the Rundles could have possibly planned their interviewee's bug-swallowing response, but this movie-lover's heart soared knowing that they recognized it.

--Mike Schutz, River Cities Reader

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Ioway Tribe PowWow & Fall Encampment September 20-22

The Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska's annual pow wow is September 20-22, 2019 in White Cloud, Kansas.  The event draws people from all over the country to celebrate dance, culture and heritage.

For more information, visit https://www.iowatribeofkansasandnebraska.com/

To purchase Fourth Wall Films' award-winning Lost Nation: The Ioway DVD series, click HERE!

Lakeside Iowa Lab Features "Lost Nation: The Ioway 3" on June 25th 7pm

Several Ioway of Oklahoma in the 1890s pose outside a church with a number of church members.

Emmy® nominated filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films will present Part 3 of their award-winning documentary series Lost Nation: The Ioway at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, 1838 IA-86, in Milford, Iowa on Tuesday, June 25, 2019 at 7:00 p.m.  The event is free to the public and Q&A will follow the one-hour documentary.

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 the1970s.  Lost Nation: The Ioway 3 brings the dramatic Ioway story full circle.

Ioway Reuben Ironhorse-Kent.

“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 and 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.

The film contains mature themes and historical images that may be disturbing to young children.

Lost Nation: The Ioway 1, 2 & 3 film series continues to screen throughout the U.S. and received numerous film festival awards.  The full-featured DVDs were released nationally and include an alternative soundtrack in the nearly extinct Ioway language.

Lost Nation: The Ioway series 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.

Fourth Wall Films is a Regional Emmy® nominated and award-winning independent film and video production company formerly located in Los Angeles, and now based in Moline, Illinois.  Fourth Wall Films focuses on telling Midwestern stories through historical documentary films that reach viewers via PBS broadcasts, theaters, film festivals, national DVD release and online streaming.

Lakeside Lab is owned by the state of Iowa and operated through the Board of Regents. Its mission is to provide science classes and research opportunities for university students, and to offer Outreach Programs and provide services through the state universities. Lakeside's 147-acre campus is located on scenic West Okoboji Lake, on Little Miller's Bay. The bay and adjacent natural areas are used as outdoor classrooms for Lakeside's university courses and Outreach Programs. The campus is open year round, and visitors are welcome to visit during daylight hours.

For more information about the Lost Nation: The Ioway film series visit www.IowayMovie.com.

Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma Powwow is June 14-16

The 34th Annual Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma Powwow gets underway June 14-16, 2019 in Tryon, Oklahoma with Grand Entry at 8:00 p.m. nightly.

The weekend is devoted to dance, honoring veterans, and celebrating American Indian culture and heritage.  The powwow ends late Sunday evening, June 16.

For vendor information, call Frank Carson or Lori Murray, Powwow Chairman, at 918-644-2095.

Visit the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma's website for more details: http://bahkhoje.com/.

To purchase Fourth Wall Films' award-winning Lost Nation: The Ioway DVD series, click HERE!

Black Hawk College's Lifelong Learners Program Features "Good Earth" May 16

On Thursday, May 16th Black Hawk College's Lifelong Learners Program will feature documentarians Kelly Rundle and Tammy Rundle who will discuss and show the 20-minute Emmy-nominated and award-winning documentary, Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City.   The film tells the fascinating and forgotten story of the Blood Run National Historic Landmark as told by a Native American grandfather to his grandchildren.  The Good Earth site in Iowa and South Dakota was a thriving trading center and was occupied between 1500 and 1725 by ancestors of the present-day Omaha, Ponca, Ioway and Otoe-Missouria tribes, making it one of the oldest long-term habitation sites in the United States. At its peak around 1650, the site was home to 6,000-10,000 residents – more than Boston (2,000) and New York (New Amsterdam – 1,000) in that same year.  The once-vibrant city is an important part of Native American and American history.  The site is part of Good Earth State Park at Blood Run in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Reservations are required at 309-796-8223
Location: Quad City Botanical Center, 2525 4th Avenue, Rock Island, IL
Lunch: 11:30 a.m.
Presentation: 12:15 p.m.
Fee: $23 (Fee includes admission to the Botanical Center)
Last day to register or receive a refund: May 9
CRN: 50225

Fourth Wall Films is an Emmy® nominated and award-winning independent film and video production company formerly located in Los Angeles, and now based in Moline, Illinois.  Fourth Wall Films focuses on telling Midwestern stories through historical documentary films that reach viewers via PBS broadcasts, theaters, film festivals, national DVD release and online streaming. 

To purchase Fourth Wall Films' award-winning Lost Nation: The Ioway DVD series, click HERE!

"Good Earth" Screens at the Julien Dubuque Film Festival April 25, 27 & 28

Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City, an Emmy-nominated documentary short by Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films, is an Official Selection at the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival.  Films will be shown in venues in and near Dubuque's Main Street and in the newly renovated Phoenix Theatres. Individual film tickets and All Access Passes are available for purchase for this 5-day festival.

JDIFF has been voted multiple times as one of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals and one of the Top 50 film festivals worth the submission fee, as well as rated one of the top reviewed festivals in the world! JDIFF acknowledges emerging filmmakers from around the world and supports diverse and cause-related films.

From the producers of the award-winning Lost Nation: The Ioway film series, Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City presents the fascinating and forgotten story of the Blood Run National Historic Landmark as told by a Native American grandfather to his grandchildren.  Produced in 4K, the documentary combines vivid present-day views of the park's scenic vistas and wildlife with dramatic historical reenactments portraying daily life in the year 1650. The film was produced for South Dakota's newest State Park, Good Earth at Blood Run near Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  The Good Earth site in Iowa and South Dakota was occupied between 1500 and 1725 by ancestors of the present-day Ioway, Omaha, Ponca and Oto tribes, making it one of the oldest long-term habitation sites in the United States.  At its peak around 1650, the site was home to 6,000-10,000 residents--more than Boston (2,000) and New York (New Amsterdam-1,000) in that same year.

Filming for the documentary took place on Good Earth/Blood Run sites in Sioux Falls and Lyon County, Iowa; and other sites in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. Representatives from the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, and the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma consulted on and participated in the film project. Approximately twenty Native Americans from across the country took part in front of and behind the camera for the documentary. 

The documentary was directed/written by Kelly Rundle, produced/written by Tammy Rundle,  and the team behind the award-winning film includes: Kevin Railsback (nature/wildlife director of photography), Chris Ryder (cinematography/assistant editor), Kimberly Kurtenbach (assistant director/casting), Melinda Carriker (wardrobe supervisor/set and props), Jon Van Allen (gaffer), Lora Adams (assistant directing/assistant wardrobe), computer animation by Grasshorse Studios, Michael Kopriva (production assistant), Sara Wegener (hair/make-up), Angelique Verver (hair/make-up), Reuben Ironhorse-Kent (pottery art/music), Delshay Webster, Jr. (production assistant), Mike He Crow (cultural props).

Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City is included in JDIFF's Short Block XI.  It will screen on Thursday, April 25 at the Mississippi River Museum Journey Theater during the 12:45 p.m. Short Block.

On Saturday, April 27 it screens at the Five Flags Bijou during the  4:45 p.m. Short Block.

On Sunday, April 28 it screens at the Hotel Julien River Room during the 2:00 p.m. Short Block.

For more information and to order tickets, visit https://julienfilmfest.com/

Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City recently received the Top Award of Excellence in the Documentary category from the Iowa Motion Picture Association, a Mid-America Emmy nomination, received seven awards at the Archaeology Channel International Film Festival in Eugene, Oregon, and top awards at the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival and the Iowa Independent Film Festival.

The award-winning Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City is available on DVD at the Good Earth State Park Visitors Center.

Fourth Wall Films is an Emmy® nominated and award-winning independent film and video production company formerly located in Los Angeles, and now based in Moline, Illinois.  Fourth Wall Films focuses on telling Midwestern stories through historical documentary films that reach viewers via PBS broadcasts, theaters, film festivals, national DVD release and online streaming. 

To purchase Fourth Wall Films' award-winning Lost Nation: The Ioway DVD series, click HERE!

Augustana Studies 'Decolonization and Cultural Revitalization' through "Ioway" and "Good Earth"

Augustana College's Native American Studies hosted a free public program on the subject of Decolonization and Indigenous Cultural Revitalization.  Dr. Jane Simonsen invited Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films to present selections from their award-winning Lost Nation: The Ioway documentary series, and Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City, and to share their experiences while working with the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma.

Augustana students, members of the Native American Coalition of the Quad Cities, and the general public attended the lecture and documentary preview.  An extended Q&A followed the presentation.

Dr. Jacki Thompson Rand, associate professor of history and the coordinator of Native American and indigenous studies at the University of Iowa, gave a public presentation at Augustana in March entitled "After Indian Removal: A Persistent Indigenous Presence in the American Midwest."

"We have made over a dozen documentary films over the last two decades," said Tammy Rundle.  "Our work with the Ioway people on the Ioway film series was a life-changing experience for both of us, and one that will always remain significant and exceptional."

Lost Nation: The Ioway Part 1 ~ Lost Nation: The Ioway tells 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.  What was a quest for survival in the past, has become a struggle to retain a unique Native American culture and language in the present. 

Part 2 & 3 ~ 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 the1970s.  Lost Nation: The Ioway 2 & 3 brings the dramatic Ioway story full circle.

Lost Nation: The Ioway 1, 2 & 3 were 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.

Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City presents the fascinating and forgotten story of the Blood Run National Historic Landmark as told by a Native American grandfather to his grandchildren. Produced in 4K, the documentary combines vivid present-day views of the park's scenic vistas and wildlife with dramatic historical reenactments portraying daily life in the year 1650. The film was produced for South Dakota's newest State Park, Good Earth at Blood Run near Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Good Earth site in Iowa and South Dakota was occupied between 1500 and 1725 by ancestors of the present-day Ioway, Omaha, Ponca and Oto tribes, making it one of the oldest long-term habitation sites in the United States. At its peak around 1650, the site was home to 6,000-10,000 residents--more than Boston (2,000) and New York (New Amsterdam-1,000) in that same year.

Fourth Wall Films is an Emmy® nominated and award-winning independent film and video production company formerly located in Los Angeles, and now based in Moline, Illinois.  Fourth Wall Films focuses on telling Midwestern stories through historical documentary films that reach viewers via PBS broadcasts, theaters, film festivals, national DVD release and online streaming. 

To purchase Fourth Wall Films' award-winning Lost Nation: The Ioway DVD series, click HERE!

 

"Good Earth" Wins Top Award of Excellence at Iowa Motion Picture Ceremony

Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City received the top Award of Excellence in the Documentary category at the 28th Annual Iowa Motion Picture Awards held on March 30th. 

56 Awards of Achievement and 9 Awards of Excellence, the IMPA’s highest award, were presented.  Producers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films were thrilled and honored by the news, especially for the representatives from the Ioway, Omaha, Ponca and Oto tribes, interviewees, cast and crew, and South Dakota Game, Fish and Park representatives involved in the project.

"Our sincere thanks to the IMPA for bestowing Good Earth with this incredible honor.  We are all very proud of this award," said director Kelly Rundle of Fourth Wall Films.

The Rundles were not able to attend the gala event due to a previous screening commitment of their new docudrama Sons & Daughters of Thunder on March 30th in Andover, Illinois.

Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City, a 20-minute Emmy-nominated documentary produced for Good Earth State Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota presents the story of the Good Earth/Blood Run historical and cultural site as told by a fictional Native American grandfather to his grandchildren. The Good Earth city was an important Native-American trading center for pipestone, bison hides, and culture. It was home to 6,000-10,000 Omaha, Ponca, Ioway and Otoe people at its peak in 1650--the largest city in what is now the United States.

Filming for the documentary took place on Good Earth/Blood Run sites in Sioux Falls and Lyon County, Iowa; and other sites in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. Representatives from the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, and the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma consulted on and participated in the film project. Approximately twenty Native Americans from across the country took part in front of and behind the camera for the documentary. 

The award-winning Good Earth: Awakening the Silent City is available on DVD at the Good Earth State Park Visitors Center.

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To purchase Fourth Wall Films' award-winning Lost Nation: The Ioway DVD series, click HERE!