| Mekko | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Sterlin Harjo |
| Written by | Sterlin Harjo |
| Starring | Rod Rondeaux |
Release date |
|
Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Mekko is a 2015 American drama film directed by Sterlin Harjo. [1] Harjo's third feature film, it is a thriller set among a community of homeless Native Americans in Tulsa.
Mekko leaves prison, having served a long sentence for having killed his cousin in a brawl. He reflects on his family's knowing and the path that he strayed from, where he was considered a see'r by the old people. He is haunted by visions of his own death and his ultimate fight with an evil spirit witch that takes the form of warriors or animal spirits. He knows he must confront it, but he fears his own weakness. Mekko meets a fellow native american who says he is a warrior, but who actually preys on the weak while demanding respect. Mekko looks into the man's heart and sees that it is the dwelling place of a witch who has killed many times. Inevitably, a confrontation arises. Mekko tries to avoid it, but he knows that the witch is hunting him.
The title word 'mekko' means head person or 'town king' in the Muskogee language, native to the independent tribal towns of 18th-century Tennessee-Georgia-Alabama area of the Southeast USA.
On this production, Harjo was inspired by Werner Herzog's 1977 film Stroszek to aim for a heightened degree of naturalism, using many real locations and real people, rather than professional actors. He found many of his cast members among people he met at the Iron Gate soup kitchen in downtown Tulsa, and he also hired locals for nearly all of his crew, saying that he wanted his crew to be familiar with Tulsa and with Native Americans. [2] [3]
Mekko premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2015. [4] [5] It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival; [6] the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, where it was named best feature film; [7] the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, where it was named best narrative feature; [8] and at the 2015 American Indian Film Festival, where it won the best film award as well as acting awards for stars Rod Rondeaux, Zahn McClarnon, and Sarah Podemski. [9]
Variety critic Dennis Harvey complimented Rod Rondeaux's "soulful performance" in the title role, and compared the film to two classic films set on skid row, On the Bowery (1956) and The Exiles (1961). [10]
Joy Harjo is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to have served three terms. Harjo is a member of the Muscogee Nation and belongs to Oce Vpofv. She is an important figure in the second wave of the literary Native American Renaissance of the late 20th century. She studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, completed her undergraduate degree at University of New Mexico in 1976, and earned an MFA degree at the University of Iowa in its creative writing program.
The Exiles (1961) is a film by Kent MacKenzie chronicling a day in the life of a group of 20-something Native Americans who left reservation life in the 1950s to live in the district of Bunker Hill, Los Angeles, California. Bunker Hill was then a blighted residential locality of decayed Victorian mansions, sometimes featured in the writings of Raymond Chandler, John Fante, and Charles Bukowski. The structure of the film is that of a narrative feature, the script pieced together from interviews with the documentary subjects. The film features Yvonne Williams, Homer Nish, and Tommy Reynolds.
Barking Water is a 2009 independent feature film written and directed by Sterlin Harjo that premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Harjo's second feature film, it stars Richard Ray Whitman, Casey Camp-Horinek, Jon Proudstar, Aaron Riggs, Laura Spencer, Quese iMC, Ryan Red Corn, and Beau Harjo.
The Tulsa City-County Library (TCCL) is the major public library system in Tulsa County, Oklahoma.
The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world's largest Indigenous film and media arts festival, held annually in Toronto in the month of October. The festival focuses on the film, video, radio, and new media work of Indigenous, Aboriginal and First Peoples from around the world. The festival includes screenings, parties, panel discussions, and cultural events.
Four Sheets to the Wind is a 2007 independent drama film written and directed by Sterlin Harjo. It was Harjo's first feature film, and won several awards at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and American Indian Film Festival.
Reel Injun is a 2009 Canadian documentary film directed by Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond, Catherine Bainbridge, and Jeremiah Hayes that explores the portrayal of Native Americans in film. Reel Injun is illustrated with excerpts from classic and contemporary portrayals of Native people in Hollywood movies and interviews with filmmakers, actors and film historians, while director Diamond travels across the United States to visit iconic locations in motion picture as well as American Indian history.
Zahn Tokiya-ku McClarnon is an American actor known for his performances in the Western crime drama series Longmire, the second season of Fargo, and the second season of Westworld. In 2022, he played the lead role in the AMC series Dark Winds. He also features in the 2021 FX on Hulu series Reservation Dogs, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Hawkeye (2021) and Echo (2024).
The Lesser Blessed is a Canadian drama film, released in 2012. The film was written and directed by Anita Doron and is based on the novel of the same name by Richard Van Camp, the film stars Joel Evans as Larry Sole, a young Tłı̨chǫ teenager living in the Northwest Territories. The film's cast also includes Chloe Rose, Kiowa Gordon, Benjamin Bratt, Dylan Cook and Tamara Podemski. Despite being set in the Northwest Territories, the film was shot in Sudbury, Ontario.
Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs is a Mohawk actress, writer, and director. For her performance in Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013), she garnered a Canadian Screen Awards nomination for Best Actress. In 2023, for her role on Reservation Dogs, she was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.
Sterlin Harjo is an American filmmaker. He has directed three feature films, a feature documentary, and the FX comedy drama series Reservation Dogs, all of them set in his home state of Oklahoma and concerned primarily with Native American people and content.
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Rod Rondeaux is a Native American actor and stuntman. As an actor his work includes the 2005 miniseries, Into the West, Comanche Moon in 2008, The Cayuse in the 2010 film, Meek's Cutoff and the lead role in the 2015 film, Mekko. His stunt work includes Reel Injun and Comanche Moon.
Reservation Dogs is an Indigenous American television series created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi for FX Productions. It follows the lives of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma, as they spend their days committing crime and fighting it.
Dark Winds is an American psychological thriller television series created by Graham Roland based on the Leaphorn & Chee novel series by Tony Hillerman. It premiered on AMC and AMC+ on June 12, 2022, with the first season consisting of six episodes. After its premiere, the series was renewed for a six-episode second season, which premiered on July 30, 2023. In September 2023, the series was renewed for a third season.
D'Pharaoh Miskwaatez McKay Woon-A-Tai is a Canadian actor of Indigenous descent. He is best known for his role as Bear Smallhill in the FX on Hulu comedy-drama series Reservation Dogs (2021), for which he was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.
Rez Ball is an upcoming American basketball film directed by Sydney Freeland that will be available on streaming service Netflix. Freedland and Sterlin Harjo adapted the screenplay from The New York Times journalist Michael Powell’s nonfiction sports novel Canyon Dreams. LeBron James is a producer on the project. An ensemble cast is set to feature Jessica Matten, Julia Jones, Amber Midthunder, and Kiowa Gordon.
Sarah Podemski is a Canadian First Nations actress, best known for her supporting role as Rita in the television series Reservation Dogs.