Fort Mojave Tribal Band, Photo Cathleen O'Connell
Follow Up
Independent filmmaker Cathleen O’Connell and members of the the Fort Mojave Tribal Band have joyous reasons for blowing their horns and beating their drums. As the REAL Desert News reported on February 26, 2012, O’Connell was seeking to raise $5,000 by March 17, 9:34 PM EDT, for the completion and 2012 release of her documentary film, Sousa on the Rez: Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum. Through the website Kickstarter.com, private and public pledges enabled O’Connell to reach her goal, by the closing date. A total of $5,880 was raised from fifty-one backers.
“Wow, thanks to each and everyone of our backers, we met our $5,000 goal, today,” O’Connell publicly announced March 12 on Kickstarter, with four days still open to receive additional pledges. O’Connell added, “I am humbled and grateful and very excited that we are much closer to bringing Sousa on the Rez to a TV screen or film festival or community screening near you.”
Sousa on the Rez features Native American musicians of the Fort Mojave Tribal Band, the Iroquois Indian Band, Navajo Nation Band and Zuni Pueblo Band. The half-hour documentary “looks at the vibrant but little known tradition of brass band music in Indian Country,” O’Connell remarked.
The film profiles the Fort Mojave Tribal Band of Needles, CA and the Iroquois Indian Band, from upstate New York.
O’Connell had been in production of Sousa on the Rez since 2007. She is based in Boston, MA. The documentary was produced in association with Native American Communications and the Center for Independent Documentary. To watch a trailer from Sousa on the Rez, go to http://vimeo.com/36230529.
As a filmmaker, O’Connell says, “I am interested in the stories you find after you exit the interstate and pull onto the blue highways and back roads of America.”
Ah, a kindred spirit, much like The REAL Desert Dogs’ Reasonable Film episodes, of our back road and deep desert sojourns.
Rango, a story about a sheltered pet chameleon who is suddenly thrown into the Mojave Desert to fend for himself, won the academy award for Best Animated Feature. So, it’s only fitting that we here at Desert News give it a salute.
Everyone in my family loved this movie, and like many animated films there are [...]
The Fort Mojave Tribal Band of Needles, CA is featured in a 30-minute documentary film, Sousa on the Rez: Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum, to be released sometime in 2012. The film is the creation of Boston-based independent documentary filmmaker Cathleen O’Connell. It is produced in association with Native American Public Communications [...]
