by Alendria Williams
OKLAHOMA CITY — A Native Oklahoman and film professor is bringing Kiowa tribe history to the big screen. Crews are still working hard on the short film called "Ghosts."A majority of the crew are Native Oklahomans with one goal: bringing this untold historic story to life.
"My father told me this story when I was a child and I’ve always wanted to make this movie even when I was first starting out in film school," said Jeffrey Palmer, the director.Palmer said it’s a story that’s been passed down for generations in his family."
My grandfather’s allotment about 20 miles or so northeast of there we would often drive by that area, and he would tell me the story. That’s where I got the story and, of course, it was all in Kiowa. It wasn’t in English. He told me everything in Kiowa," said Gus Palmer Jr., an actor and father of the director.
The 15-minute short film tells the true story of three Kiowa boys running away from a boarding school in Anadarko, Oklahoma, in 1891.
“Raise questions about indigenous life and also relations between Indian and non-Indian sources,” Gus said.
Crews are currently shooting scenes at Harn Homestead in Oklahoma City.
"We’re basically working on the escape that they did from the boarding school their escape plan how they hatched it and how they actually escaped," Jeffrey said.
It’s an untold story about Native American resilience, specifically within the Kiowa tribe.
The story represents a piece of Oklahoma history. The school is now known as Riverside Indian School in Anadarko."
In the film, we’re trying to use as much Kiowa as we can and it’s kind of hard with subtitles we can use that. But I think the story is more informed when you use the original language because there are nuances and things you want to say you can’t say in English. They’re hard to translate directly into English it gives you some idea of how important language is," Gus said.
The crew will continue shooting in Guthrie for the next two days and wrap up filming Thursday morning.
