Native Spirit & The Sun Dance Way are two unique, feature-length documentaries contained in 2 volumes. In Native Spirit, Cree Indian actress Tantoo Cardinal (Dances with Wolves), transports the viewer to the days of Red Cloud when, "Our old men talked with spirits and made good medicine. Our young men herded the horses and made love to the girls. In this way we lived and were happy". The voices of Plenty Coup, Fools Crow, Black Elk and other great leaders of their day, convey the heartbreaking story of their people's oppression and their ultimate triumph of the spirit. In The Sun Dance Way, the words of Thomas Yellowtail, a revered Sun Dance chief of the Crow Indian tribe, are brought to life by the internationally known Cree Indian actor, Gordon Tootoosis (Legends of the Fall). Unique photographs and video footage of sun dances, from as far back as 1903, reveal the symbolism and mystical beauty of the ancient ceremony which remains at the center of the Plains Indians' lives today. "Once you know about these

Native Spirit & The Sun Dance Way are two unique, feature-length documentaries contained in 2 volumes. In Native Spirit, Cree Indian actress Tantoo Cardinal (Dances with Wolves), transports the viewer to the days of Red Cloud when, "Our old men talked with spirits and made good medicine. Our young men herded the horses and made love to the girls. In this way we lived and were happy". The voices of Plenty Coup, Fools Crow, Black Elk and other great leaders of their day, convey the heartbreaking story of their people's oppression and their ultimate triumph of the spirit. In The Sun Dance Way, the words of Thomas Yellowtail, a revered Sun Dance chief of the Crow Indian tribe, are brought to life by the internationally known Cree Indian actor, Gordon Tootoosis (Legends of the Fall). Unique photographs and video footage of sun dances, from as far back as 1903, reveal the symbolism and mystical beauty of the ancient ceremony which remains at the center of the Plains Indians' lives today. "Once you know about these

Richard Friedenberg scripted and made his directorial debut with this adaptation of Forrest Carter's 1992 award-winning coming-of-age novel detailing the Depression-era boyhood of an orphaned Cherokee, eight-year-old Little Tree (Joseph Ashton). Raised and tutored by his grandparents (Tantoo Cardinal, James Cromwell) in the Smokey Mountains of the 1930s, Little Tree encounters difficulties after authorities force him to attend the Notched Gap Indian School. Friedenberg later received an Oscar nomination for his A River Runs Through It screenplay. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide.

Playwright Sam Shepard wrote and directed this bizarre combination of western film revisionism and Greek tragedy. Silent Tongue (Tantoo Cardinal) is a mute Kiowa who is raped by Eamon McCree (Alan Bates), the owner of the Kickapoo Traveling Medicine Show. Eamon attempts to make up for his crime by marrying her, hoping for forgiveness. Instead, Silent Tongue enacts a bitter retribution through her two daughters, Awbonnie (Sheila Tousey) and Velada (Jeri Arredondo). Awbonnie, as the film begins, has already died, but her grieving husband Talbot (River Phoenix) refuses to let her go, dragging around her corpse. To assuage Talbot, his father Prescott (Richard Harris) sets out to purchase Velada from Eamon, thinking that only Awbonnie's sister can replace her in Talbot's eyes. But Velada's half-brother Reeves (Dermot Mulroney) protests the attempted transaction. As a result, Prescott kidnaps Velada and flees, with not only Reeves and Eamon chasing him, but also Awbonnie's ghost. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide.

A Russian woman gets an unexpected crash course in small-town American life in this independent comedy drama. Jake (Vincent Angelini) lives and works in Paradise, a small town in southwestern Michigan. Jake is gruff and good-hearted when sober but can be mean-spirited and unpredictable when drunk. His close friend Chick (Randall Godwin) thinks Jake needs a wife, so when he reads a magazine report about Russian women making themselves available as mail-order brides, he poses as Jake to write several letters to an attractive woman from the Ukraine; he also raises money among Jake's friends to bring her to America. Viktoria (Natalia Nazarova) is puzzled by Jake's lack of enthusiasm when she first meets him, and is outraged by his alcoholic discourtesy to her; she storms out and ends up staying with Reenie (Tantoo Cardinal), the no-nonsense barmaid at the local tavern. The next morning, Viktoria realizes that Chick bought her a one-way ticket, leaving her stranded. Reenie takes Viktoria under her wing, giving her