In January, Ryan Flynn’s documentary “You No No Indian” was suddenly withdrawn from the Palm Springs 2025 film festival because of “planning errors”. Six months later, the film, on the controversial practice of the elimination of the Aboriginal peoples of tribal roles entitled Tribal Disanrolment, will finally make its debut at the Festival Dances With Films on June 28.
In the film, Flynn explores how tribal disinterest has stripped more than 11,000 Amerindians from their tribal membership, thus erasing their identities, rights and connections with their communities. Fueled by the profits of the casino, political power and personal vendettas, certain governments of the American tribes, according to the DOC, use fear, violence and legal shortcomings to erase their own members.
“We observe the tribal disinterest moving like a tidal raz through indigenous communities in all this country,” explains Flynn. “Less members who are in your tribe, the largest piece of the pie that you get casinos.”
In April, Aboriginal actors Wes Studi and Tantoo Cardinal signed executive products “you are not Indian”.
“This is a powerful and important story that must be told,” said Cardinal, better known for his roles in “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Dances With Wolves”. “Our employees are erased by systems without responsibility. I undertake to help make this injustice aware. ”
It took Seven years in Flynn to complete “you are not Indian”. Several of these years have been devoted to gaining the confidence of various members of the disinterested tribe who are presented in the doc.
“The disinterest lives in the dark and in the shadows when people do not talk about it,” explains Flynn. “But what I learned is that if people start talking about it, it targets a target on their backs. So, all those who appeared in front of our cameras took a significant risk and were faced with reprisals. It was heartbreaking, but they knew it was an important project. They didn’t just think of themselves when they decided to participate. They thought of their children. person or family.
Flynn says that the growing practice of unsubscribe in tribal communities across the country often occurs without legal protection or regular procedure, targeting the most vulnerable tribal members disproportionately. “There is a civil war that goes well under our nose that nobody speaks,” he says.
Variety spoke to Flynn before the beginnings of Los Angeles of June 28 of “You ‘No Indian” at the Festival Dances With Films.
How did you learn the tribal disinterest?
I am a curious person and I go down all the time Google Rabbit. One day, I was curious to know how indigenous peoples earn money from their casinos. The answer I found was that she varied from one tribe to another. It was also then that I started reading on the tribal disinterest, which at the time I knew nothing. I was shocked that there are.
Why do you think that tribal disinterest is not talked about in consumer media?
There is an active racial reconciliation in this country, and the indigenous peoples are not part of it. I looked [Native American] Casinos as repairs in a way. A way to release a tribal nation from abject poverty. A way to benefit all indigenous peoples, but that has not proven in this way. Instead, there are a very small percentage of indigenous people who really receive the casinos payments.
Why do you think that “you are not Indian” was withdrawn from the programming of the Palm Springs Film Festival earlier this year?
It was very strange. We were canceled at the last minute despite the closed counters projections. [The festival] We continued to tell ourselves that it was a planning problem, but there was no other film playing on this block. We offered to find other sites because so many people had bought tickets, but they told us that we couldn’t do anything. It was reported anonymously to me that there was tribal involvement, such as threats to draw sponsorship.
Do you fear that the dances with films abandon the doc in the last minute?
Yes. But so far, everything is fine. We have heard first -hand that some festivals are afraid of projecting this film because they are afraid of reprisals of the sponsorships of Casino or something else. So, having this dance program with films, this doc sends a message.
