Native American Language Preservation Film

My name is Bryant HighHorse, Jr. My Lakota name is "Oyate Nawicakcijin " or "Defends His People." Lakota is my original language that I have spoken since birth. I teach Native American Psychology, Culture and Native American Studies as a professor at Oglala Lakota College.

We have spent the past two years working on a documentary film to bring attention to the loss of our beautiful Lakota language. It has been a long journey. We now have all the footage we need to tell our story but need your help to edit the film. You can watch the trailer to get an idea of what this project holds and how sacred this project is.

We have come to this website to humbly ask for your continued support. Oyate Woyaka translates to The People Speak. Oyate, the people, have helped us get this far. People of all backgrounds and races. In our culture, we use the phrase Mitakuye Oyasin which means that we are all connected. We hope this story touches your heart and inspires you to support us on the final stretch so we can tell this urgent story, revitalize our language and bring Native American thought and philosophy into the national dialogue.

More Details About Our Film:

We are losing fluent speakers daily, and this film is a call to action. It is now or never. We are coming to the people to fund this because our story is urgent.

Our film, Oyate Woyaka, is a story of loss, healing and revitalization. Many parts of this story are told in our ancestral language by traditional Lakota elders like myself. Many of the elders featured were the last survivors of church and government-run boarding schools of assimilation that tried to abuse and shame the language out of us.

We are still here, we are still speaking our language, and we have a story that has never been told.

In addition to telling a beautiful story and giving voice to our Lakota relatives, this film preserves the language and will be used as a teaching tool. Many of us did not teach our children because we feared they would be treated as horribly as we were. We want to offer our children and grandchildren a path back to our language and culture. This film is a start. It is a prayer for healing.

You can make a difference by donating today to or nonprofit sponsor, Bluebird Cultural Initiative. Their Mission is to provide meaningful programming to the community that enriches their understanding of the history and cultural traditions of Native American peoples of the Great Plains. They strive to revitalize the past through the arts and culture in order to energize the future for our youth.

The language and culture are not for sale. All proceeds go toward filmmaking professionals, Lakota immersion schools and community support.

Below is a brief outline of how funds will be used. We already have a detailed budget for the editing process and an additional 12-minute sample of the film. Both are available upon request.

$17,000 - ROUGH EDIT

We have captured 60 hours of powerful footage from elders and immersion schools. It is very time-intensive to organize and build the story we want to tell. During this phase, we will create a rough story outline that includes the translation of our Lakota language. In addition to editing the video, we will also need to mix the audio levels. When this phase is completed, we can show the elders and industry professionals our sample for feedback.