The Bing Arts Center to screen ‘Neither Wolf or Dog’

Date: 5/24/2019

SPRINGFIELD –An acclaimed independent film, “Neither Wolf or Dog,” will be featured at The Bing Arts Center.

Adapted from the novel of the same title by Kent Nerburn, the story’s synopsis is “a white author who gets sucked into the heart of contemporary Native American life in the sparse lands of the Dakota’s by a 95 year old Lakota elder and his side-kick.”

The film will be screened at 8 p.m. on June 8.

Speaking to Reminder Publishing from Aberdeen, Scotland, director Steven Lewis Simpson explained his “fascinating journey” with the film and subject matter.

Simpson said that 20 years ago circumstances led him to shoot three days of political meetings among native leaders at Wounded Knee in South Dakota.

This experience led to the 13-year shoot of his documentary “A Thunder-Being Nation.”

That in turn led him to the novel and the production of “Neither Wolf or Dog.” He described the movie as “filmed incredibly, very quickly with almost nothing to work with.”

Filming the novel gave Simpson ”something powerful in my life.”

He has been booking his film in commercial theaters and art houses since 2017 himself and defying the conventional way independent films are distributed today.  He said it would become “lost” if after a brief theatrical run it had been given over to streaming and video on demand.

The film has played for multiple day runs in theaters across the country, competing successfully against mainstream Hollywood product, he explained.

He believes the film works best on a large screen in an auditorium with people sharing in the communal experience.

“Cinemas are where it’s at,” he said. “Its pure narrative works any way you watch it, but it’s a much funnier film with an audience.” Simpson added the big screen “ magnifies emotions.”

The focus of the film is on the character Dan, an elder of the Lakota nation played by the late Dave Bald Eagle.  

“Every word out of his mouth was perfect,” Simpson said. He also said he now knows he will never photograph “a more beautiful face.”

Eagle, a Lakota elder and a WWII vet, shared some characteristics with the fictional character as his ancestors were killed at Wounded Knee in 1890. This extremely close relationship between actor and character led to what Simpson called “a historic moment.”

Simpson recalled a pivotal scene at the end of the movie during which Eagle improvised speaking about the Wounded Knee massacre. Simpson said at the end of the shot, Eagle said those emotions had been held in for the past 99 years.

The film was filmed on location in the West and the film has a genuine look and feel.

For more about the film go to http://neitherwolfnordogfilm.com