Levi Rickert, Native News Network
LOS ANGELES Producers of “Holy Man: The USA vs. Douglas White” are raising funds through Kickstarter to finish the feature documentary narrated by award winning actor Martin Sheen.
Douglas White (c) with filmmakers Jennifer Jessum(Director/Producer) and Simon J. Joseph (Writer/Producer).
The Kickstarter campaign was started to raise finishing funds to pay for music rights, make DVDs, and redesign the HOLY MAN website in order to sell DVDs. Any additional funds raised will go to doing free screenings on reservations and getting copies of the film into reservation schools and libraries across the country.
“Holy Man: The USA vs. Douglas White” is the story of a Lakota Sioux holy man who was wrongfully convicted and spent 17 years in prison, for a crime he didn’t commit.
Douglas White, an elderly Lakota Sioux medicine man from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, spent the last 17 years of his life in a federal prison for a crime he did not commit.
White was sent to prison for the alleged sexual abuse of his two grandsons. Years later the grandsons recanted their stories and admitted they lied in court at their grandfather’s trial. Even with the new evidence, White remained in prison until his death at 89 in 2009.
“Holy Man” offers a rare glimpse into the mysterious world of Lakota religion, their intimate connection to the land, and a provocative expose of the systemic injustice that Native Americans face in the criminal justice system. “Holy Man” is narrated by Martin Sheen and features Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Russell Means, Arvol Looking Horse, Dr. Fred Alan Wolf, Leonard Crow Dog, and many other Lakota elders and leaders.
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