Native American film Smoke Signals to be screened April 30

Evan Adams and Adam Beach star in Smoke Signals, the first feature film written and directed by Native Americans.

Cornell Cinema will present the Ithaca premiere of Smoke Signals, the first dramatic feature film made by Native Americans. The film will be shown tonight, April 30, at 7:30 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre.

The screening of Smoke Signals replaces the previously advertised screening of Hav Plenty. Admission is $4.50; $4 for students, seniors and children under 12.

Winner of both the Filmmakers Trophy and the Audience Award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, Smoke Signals is based on Sherman Alexie's eloquent and comic novel, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Adapted by Alexie for the screen, the story is a moving portrait of a young man coming to terms with his father and the culture of reservation life. In the film, Victor Joseph learns of his father's premature death and must find a way to retrieve the body for a ceremonial burial on the Coeur d'Alene reservation. He accepts the offer of his quirky and garrulous childhood buddy, Thomas-Builds-the-Fire, to pay for the trip if he'll take Thomas along. Their ensuing odyssey becomes an exploration of personal and social being, unlikely friendships and the idea of home.

Directed by Cheyenne/Arapaho filmmaker Chris Eyre, a graduate of NYU's film school, Smoke Signals has a "cinematic vision that is fresh, honest and deeply cynical of the trite images and ideas about what it is to be Indian in America. Funny, raging, poignant and revealing . . . this film is blessed with inspiration," proclaimed program notes at the Sundance Film Festival.

This screening is cosponsored by Swing Magazine.