Standing Rock Documentary

(The above video features aerial footage from Dean Dedman Jr. check out his amazing coverage from Standing Rock here: www.facebook.com/drone2bwild. This video was edited by Chris Whitworth at The Guardian) 

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Hello friends & foes - I'm Lafleur - a documentary filmmaker and photojournalist. Never thought I'd set up a gofundme account, but the past three months have been humbling and financially straining as I've set out on a serious challenge. 



I've found myself in the midst of a revolution.

I've been shooting footage on the ground since mid-August at Standing Rock Reservation where Natives from over 300 tribes and their non-native allies have convened to fight the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline - a nearly 4 billion dollar infrastructure planned to be installed under the Missouri River, threatening their water supply and land. As we know, when it comes to pipelines, it's only a matter of time before they break, and the result is catastrophic for the land and water supply. As if that weren't enough, the pipeline construction would also disrupt many burial grounds and other sacred sites. 

The Lakota Sioux Nation are no strangers to this kind of behavior.  In 1868 they were packed into a reservation where they were promised no white folks would cross, but once the colonizers found gold in the black hills three years later, the white folks decided 'screw it, we want those hills' and gradually began to split the Sioux up into six smaller reservations, where they live to this day. 



Skip forward another century to the 1940s, when the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program authorized five dams on Native land, costing Standing Rock about 55,000 acres, destroying "more Indian land than any other public works project in America," according to historian Michael Lawson.  The Sioux elders, said one Native on the ground at Standing Rock, died of heartache. 



Fast forward another 70 years, and the Lakota Nation's way of life is again being threatened in a very dramatic way. But this instance is different because of a prophecy. The 7th generation prophecy said that this generation of Natives would encounter a black snake - (the oil pipeline) - and that they would rise up and defeat this black snake and demand that their stewardship over the Earth be returned. 



So here we are. 2016. On the news you've seen Happi lock himself to construction equipment for 6 hours to stop movement at the pipeline site, you've also mace and dogs used in an attempt to keep water protectors from interfering with construction.  But the people are determined to defeat the Black Snake. This is the largest Native American protest in history. 



Thus far I've put out a two and a half minute video for the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/29/north-dakota-oil-pipeline-protest-standing-rock-sioux , helped out on some other short Fusion videos,  and put out a smattering of photos here and there.  



But my dream is to team up with Native and non-Native allies and make a documentary film or a long-form documentary style video piece that would do justice to what's happening at Standing Rock.


This piece would go more in depth than the 2-3 minute news features and hopefully memorialize the voices and bravery of folks putting their bodies and families on the line everyday at Standing Rock in a way that tells a fuller story, beginning with archival material, and ending with a resolution. 



SO! I'm currently shooting at Standing Rock where I will continue to try to be everywhere at once without stepping on anyone's feet. The money I raise from this gofundme page would help cover the costs of airplane tickets, rental cars, gear, and meal expenses.

One of the people who is already on my team for this project is Romin Johnson - a J-School alum , photographer, and up-and-coming filmmaker who has been working with me at Standing Rock for several weeks now. 

I know a great deal of folks who would love to be a part of this but are real live responsible adults with real jobs. I'm indebted to anyone who can pitch in to allow me to keep dreaming and believing that this is my job. Terray is indebted to you too. 



Water is the new gold, water is life. This is the last remaining resource that fuels all life on our planet and indigenous people's across North America are seeing their water be contaminated and their people get sick. Native folks on the ground say time and time again - we're not just here fighting for ourselves, we're fighting for you and your children and grandchildren. 



Help me to try to capture this historic moment in time with the help of other documentarians on the ground. 

And I can't ask you for money in the name of a Native American Revolution and keep it all to myself.  So one quarter of your contributions will go to the camp.



LOVE


LAFLEUR






PS - I'll post a sample reel soon!