“My Three Friends” was a work of art, informative, and entertaining

         (RLNN) - This film actually came out in 2001, and after receiving a copy from Equay Wiigamig, I couldn’t help but review it in words. It was excellent in all respects, from the writing of the story, the acting, the photography, the music and transitions, down to the editing.

         “Nushkayneen”, was one of the first words spoken in the film. It means “Listen,” and when Ennis Johnson (who provided voice-overs in Ojibwe in various scenes) says it, you do just that.

         A couple years ago the Equay Wiigamig Program and Red Lake’s Project Preserve got together on a collaborative effort to bring about a film project that addressed the sensitive issue of some of the challenges that female students–as well as female adults–faced. These specific issues dealt with domestic abuse and violence, date rape, drugs and the everyday occurrences of life.

         “My Three Friends” was the title of this film project, a well-written story about the three friends of a high school student named Faith (played by Sherri Johnson).

         Faith narrates throughout the film and gives an account of the lives of three of her best friends, Cat (played by Selma Lussier), Liberty (played by Jenni Schoenborn)

and Deysha (played by Crystal Lussier), who each has a different challenge to deal with in their young lives.

         The pain of growing up, the emotions, the peer pressures and the bad things about trying to have a good time.

         Liberty was at odds in the beginning with everyone and everything around her, where it affects her schooling, her relationship with her father, and her friends, until she seeks help from local counselors. She turns her life around.

         Deysha was a girl who got in trouble and she didn’t remember how or why it happened.

         Joe May played a shady type of character who gave his friend a drug to put in Deysha’s drink at a party. Deysha fell under the influence of the drug, and the guy–who had just broken up with his girlfriend and came to her for friendship–escorted her home only to seduce her without her knowledge or consent.

         The third friend, Cat, was the smart girl in school who had all the aspirations of continuing on to college once she finished high school, only to have those dreams shattered with an unplanned pregnancy prior to finishing high school.

         The three friends go through life with the events that change their courses, and they deal with it in different ways. But each also seeks help through services that are available, the Advocacy Program, Rape Crisis personnel, traditions, counselors, mental health professionals–who all played themselves.

         The narration was very good, the music well balanced with a taste of the old and new music forms, and special narration by Johnson in Ojibwe gave life to the Manidoowkwe character (played by Rosezina LaFromboise).

         Along with being meaningful for all ages, it was also entertaining with a lot of realism portraited by the characters in their roles.

         Even the supporting actors and actresses were very convincing and true-to-life..

         And you had to laugh at Liberty’s father (played by Jon Prentice) because he played the part of a typical father figure so well. One particular scene involved a talk with Liberty about her improvement on her grades, ending with his statement–as he prepared his spotlight for shining–that he was going to get a buck tonight.

         The Coordinator of Project Preserve, Diane Swantz, also played a supporting role, along with Paraprofessional Don May. They played the parents of Deysha. One particular scene involved the couple coming home from a night at the local bingo and winning $400.00, where they wanted to get the young ones out of bed and head right to Bemidji to spend it.

         Others playing roles included Erma Beaulieu, Rob Beaulieu, Charlene Cloud, Dan Smith, Phillip May, Allison Benton, Randy Lussier, Joe May, Clyde Perkins Jr., and Cristine Sorenson.

         The film was made possible through the support of Equay Wiigamig, Whispering Winds Sexual Assault Program, Young Indian Women’s Program and Progress, and Intermedia Arts.

         Funding was made possible through the Minnesota Center for Crime Victims Services.

         If you haven’t seen the film, you ought to, and in my opinion, it was Project Preserves best film to date. “My Three Friends” was the Project’s eighth.

         It had also been nominated and won some awards after it was first released, including a review by the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, was invited to be entered into the Women in the Director’s Chair Festival at the Walker Art Museum in Minneapolis.

         In 2000, their student video “Turnover” received high acclaim at the Smithsoian National Museum of the American Indian Film and Video Show in New York.

         Project Preserve has also been recognized for its videos in the Two Rivers Native Film Festival, among others.