''Oyate'' is a 2022 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by Brandon Jackson and Emil Benjamin. The film follows Indigenous activists and politicians as they shed light on the

Dakota Access Pipeline The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) or Bakken pipeline is a underground pipeline in the United States that has the ability to transport up to 750,000 barrels of light sweet crude oil per day. It begins in the shale oil fields of the Bakken Forma ...

protests. ''Oyate'' had its world premiere at

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is an annual non-fiction film festival held in Missoula, Montana each February. The event showcases documentary films from around the world. The festival first began in 2003 as a seven-day event. It is now a ten- ...

in 2022 and has been screened at multiple other festivals across the United States.

Synopsis

The

Dakota Access Pipeline protests The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests, also called by the hashtag #NoDAPL, began in April 2016 as a grassroots opposition to the construction of Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern United States and ended on Febru ...

became an inflection point for Indigenous people and modern tribal sovereignty. Thousands of people from across the county gathered at the Standing Rock reservation to stand in solidarity with the Lakota people. Since then, community leaders have been used their newfound platform to organize and educate people about their issues. ''Oyate'' uses the #NoDAPL struggle as a jumping off point to dive into an array of issues that affect Indigenous people. The film centers around a diverse group of Indigenous voices led by activist Phyllis Young, attorney Chase Iron Eyes, hip hop artist Stuart James, and

Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to: * Secretary of the Interior (Mexico) * Interior Secretary of Pakistan * Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines) * United States Secretary of the Interior See also

*Interior ministry ...

Deb Haaland as they unravel a history of systemic oppression defined by broken treaties, land theft, and cultural erasure. The latter half of the story follows the subjects on the ground as they take the fight to state governments, Washington DC, and eventually the United Nations.

Cast

* Chase Iron Eyes *

Phyllis Young A member of Standing Rock in North and South Dakota, Phyllis Young has been an American Indian rights activist (Lakota/Dakota) for more than 40 years. She is most widely known for her leadership role in the anti-Dakota Access Pipeline struggle in 2 ...

* Deb Haaland * Stuart James * Tokata Iron Eyes *

Sally Jewell Sarah Margaret "Sally" Roffey Jewell (born February 21, 1956) is a British-American businessperson who served as the 51st United States secretary of the interior in the Obama administration from 2013 to 2017. Jewell was born in London and moved ...

Ruth Buffalo Ruth Anna Buffalo is an American people, American politician serving as a member of the North Dakota House of Representatives from the 27th District, serving from December 1, 2018. She is the first Native American Democratic Party (United States) ...

* LaDonna Brave Bull Allard * Andrea Carmen *

Tamara St. John Tamara St. John is an American politician and a Republican member of the South Dakota House of Representatives representing District 1 since January 8, 2019. With her election, St. John became the first and only Native American Republican woman ...

Release

The film premiered at the 2022

, and screened at the 2022 Cleveland International Film Festival.

Critical reception

''Oyate'' received positive critical reception. It holds a 100% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on five reviews. Reviewing for ''

Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...

'', Rob Rector stated, "Any spotlight brought to the systemic mistreatment and marginalization of this America’s original inhabitants is worthy of attention." In a review for ''The Independent Critic'', Richard Propes wrote, "''Oyate'' is a vital and necessary documentary about a subject many Americans have only learned about in bits and pieces and a subject that, you guessed it, has most certainly been whitewashed." Additionally the film has been noted for elevating indigenous issues.

Awards

References

External links

* * * {{rotten-tomatoes, id= oyate, title= Oyate 2022 films 2022 documentary films Documentary films about Native Americans 2020s English-language films