War Pony

Matho (Ladainian Crazy Thunder) and Bill (Jojo Bapteise Whiting), two Oglala Lakota males, live on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Bill is a 23 and the father of two children by two different women. Entrepreneurial as he is, Bill sees an opportunity to earn money everywhere, for example by breeding poodles. Meanwhile, 12-year-old Matho can't wait to grow up and especially wants to be seen and acknowledged by his drug dealer father. Thieving and drug dealing with his father's stash lead Matho and his friends into trouble. Although Matho and Bill don't know each other, they cross paths, and it turns out they have a lot in common… ‘War Pony’ is a realistic drama and an intimate portrait of life on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Although the film is the directorial debut of Gina Gammell and Riley Keough, they emphasize that the film is a collective achievement in close collaboration with the local community, who co-wrote the screenplay and can be seen in the various roles. Their efforts helped the film win the Camera d’Or for best first feature at the Cannes Film Festival last year.