Young Lakota

A Native American Leader Fights for Reproductive Rights

In this award-winning documentary, Cecilia Fire Thunder- the first female President of the Oglala Sioux tribe, defies a proposed South Dakota law criminalizing all abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest, by threatening to build a women's clinic on the sovereign territory of the reservation. She ignites a political firestorm that sets off a chain reaction in the lives of three young Lakotas on the Pine Ridge Reservation, forcing each of them to make choices that define who they are and the kind of adults they will become.

Selected Festivals: ImagineNative, Red Nation, Smithsonian Native American, New Orleans, Cucalorus, Indigenous Showcase.

""A rare glimpse into Pine Ridge that celebrates the resistance and complexity of the Oglala Lakota who live there."" The Nation

"An intimate look at life "on the Rez," [and] a microcosm of the country's culture wars and the struggle for women's rights... a charismatic Native American woman fighting for her political survival." Sundance Now

Audience Award Winner at the SXSW Film Festival, Winner of Best Documentary at the ImagineNative Film + Media Arts Festival. Winner of Best Cinematography at the Sundance Film Festival.

"Young Lakota gives an insight into rez life that few others have successfully done, and with a clear voice that speaks, often painfully, of the truth and humanity that is often left on the cutting floor." - Anne White Hat, First Peoples Fund