Chris Eyre
Cheyenne Arapaho Film Director
“Feature film director Chris Eyre has been
giving a voice to contemporary Native
American people ever since his 1998
indie(Indian) hit Smoke Signals.”
(Mother Jones Podcast,2009)
Chris Eyre
Directs films, documentaries and TV shows
with accurate portrayals of Native Americans
Age 43 in 2011
Born in Portland, Oregon
..
Raised in Klamath Falls, Oregon
“I'd like to make movies that are about Indians here
and now, Indians living in the 21st century, and
show that they are as complex as any other
people... and it has nothing to do with spirituality
or oppression. It's just about people being people.
That's really what I'm seeking” (Eyre, 2002).
Family
Daughter: Shahiyela
Shahiyela’s mom: Lori
Pourier
Adoptive parents: Barbara
and Earl (Caucasian)
Reconnects with his
biological mother, Rose,
at age 18
Traditional Cheyenne and
Arapaho People in Regalia
Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal College President Dr.
Henrietta Mann
Red Earth Princess Carrie Kay-Kay Whitlow
Chiefs of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes
Cheyenne and Arapaho are two distinct tribes
Because of the creation of Indian Reservations, many
tribes were force to exist with another tribe
Cheyenne Traditional Homeland
Near the Great Lakes in what is now Minnesota
and Great Plains
Cheyenne remain a powerful tribe
Arapaho Traditional Homeland
Saskatchewan, Montana, Wyoming,
Eastern Colorado, and Western
South Dakota
Graduate Education
1995, Master of Fine Arts,
Graduate Film Program
New York University
Best short film award for Tenacity, 1995
Undergraduate Education
1991, Bachelor's Degree, Media Arts
University of Arizona
(created non-sync 16mm films)
1989: Associate of Applied Science
Degree: Television Production Major
Mt. Hood Community College
(Learned multi-camera television)
Career Achievements
•
•
•
•
Directs Major films
Co-produces TV series
Makes music video
Creates documentaries for PBS
On the Set Chris Eyre
Major Film Productions
A Thousand Roads (2005) Movie
A Thief of Time (2004)TV Movie
Edge of America (2003)TV Movie
Things We Do(1998)Music Video
Skinwalkers (2002)TV Movie
Skins (2002)Movie
Smoke Signals (1998)Movie
A Thousand Roads (2005) Movie
A Thief of Time (2004) TV Movie
Edge of America (2003) TV Movie
Skinwalkers (2002) TV Movie
Skins (2002) Movie
Things We Do (1998) Music Video
Smoke Signals (1998) Movie
Smoke Signals (1999) Awards
15 nominations
Won 9 awards
Best film
Best actor
Newcomer of the year
Best Debut Performance
All Native American Cast and Crew
Skins (2002) Awards
Wins 2 awards
Best Actor
Theatrical Feature Film
Nominated for Best Male Lead
Nominated Best Performance
in a Theatrical Feature Film
Skinwalkers (2002)
Adapted from the Novel
“Skinwalkers” by Tony
Hillerman
TV Series
The American Experience (TV series documentary)
We Shall Remain: Part 1-5 (2009)
Freedom Riders (TV series) (2009)
Law and Order: SVU (TV series) Smut (2008)
Friday Night Lights (TV Series) Keeping up
Appearances (2008)
We Shall Remain (2009) TV Series
Freedom Riders (2009) TV Series
Law and Order: SVU (2009) TV
Friday Night Lights (2008) TV
Eyre works with PBS to create a five part
educational series on Native American Indian
history during colonization (2009).
“I think in the series what you find is
that nothing is simple and nothing is
black or white… you can’t always be
sure the choices you would have made
at the time and the series really sheds
light on that” (Eyre, 2009).
Chris Eyre comments
about the “We Shall
Remain” series.
Publisher, Chris Neumer comments on
Skins and Smoke Signals:
“My reaction to both films was, I’m not
sure if I’m being naïve or I’m being
super enlightened, but when I watched
this movie, I just saw people”(2002).
Current Productions
Native Century: TV series that tells the stories about
Native Americans after Wound Knee Massacre
A Year in Mooring: Movie about successful
businessman who suffers tragedy
Chris Eyre Today
• Cheyenne and Arapaho success at Age 43
• Currently lives in Rapid City, South Dakota
• Directs films & documentaries
Question For Chris Eyre
What would you like to tell Native American
Youth?
Matt Cram
• Biographer
• Currently attending
University of WisconsinPlatteville
• Social Science
Major/with History
Emphasis
• I like to play sports and
anything outdoors
Special Thanks
• Thanks to those people who helped me on
this project
• Thanks to the sources that I used on this
project
• Thanks to Chris Eyre, couldn’t do this project
without him
• Thanks to Kevin Locke for the Music used in
this project
• Special thanks to Garnet Wind, Julie Philips,
and Colleen Garrity
References 1-5
Alexie, S. (2006). Old school reviews. Retrieved February 12, 2011,
from http://oldschoolreviews.com/rev_2000/smoke_signals.htm
Bowman, J. (2006). Filmmaker Chris Eyre: Telling it like it is. Retrieved
February 8, 2011, from
http://www.nativepeoples.com/article/articles/137/1/Filmmaker
-Chris-Eyre
Cheyenne and Arapaho tribe. (2010). Retrieved February 22, 2011,
from http://www.c-a-tribes.org/government
Http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/behind_the_scene
s/heard_on_set_eyre. Chris Eyre (Director). ().[Video/DVD]
Chris Eyre biography. (2011). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800024676/bio
References 6-10
Chris Eyre biography TMC. (2011). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/participant.jsp?spid=514832&apid=0
Chris Eyre on young native people. . (Jan 23, 2008).[Video/DVD] Retrieved
from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URC4CDdHQA0
Chris Eyre: Filmmaker. (2008). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://chriseyre.org/
Chris Neumer. (2006). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://stumpedmagazine.com/articles/chris-neumer.html
Cowboys and Indians. (2011). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://www.cowboysindians.com/art-entertainment/tv-film/201012/reel-injun-pbs-independant-lens-documentary-examines-nativeroles-in-film.jsp
References 11-15
Day of the black docs. (2010). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://www.dayofblackdocs.org/
DGA awards. (2009). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://www.dga.org/thedga/aw_tv.php3
Edge of America. (2011). Retrieved February 8, 2011, from
http://www.moviefone.com/movie/edge-of-america/20712/main
Http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/behind_the_scenes/hear
d_on_set_eyre. Eyre, C. (Director). (2009).[Video/DVD] PBS: PBS.
Fitts, A. (2011). Interview: Chris Eyre, native American director, and ric
burns, documentary filmmaker. Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://motherjones.com/media/2009/05/interview-chris-eyre-nativeamerican-director-and-ric-burns-documentary-filmmaker
References 16-20
Flag of Arapaho nation. (2011). Retrieved February 12, 2011, from
http://www.tmealf.com/native_american/n-a.htm
Foriegnmoviesddl. (2009). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://www.foriegnmoviesddl.com/2009/03/skins-2002-chris-eyre.html
Foster care month. (2009). Retrieved February 12, 2011, from
http://www.fostercaremonth.org/SuccessStories/FosterCareAlumni/Pag
es/ChrisEyre.aspx
Friday night lights. (2011). Retrieved February 8, 2011, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1216628/
Greenwichmeantime. (2010). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/usa/south-dakota/
References 21-26
IMDB. (2011). Retrieved February 12, 2011, from
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3850607360/tt0284494
IMDB. (2011). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312278/
Indigenous. (2006). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://www.uulyrics.com/music/indigenous/song-things-we-do/
Law and order. (2011). Retrieved February 8, 2011, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1248622/
Locke, K, Good, D, and Wasinger, T. (2008). Earth Gift. Pittsburgh, PA: Ixtlan
Artist Group, Inc.
Map of united states. (2011). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_map_-_geographic.png
References 27-31
Movie camera. (2011). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://pvk2010.wikispaces.com/Ms.+Cabral%27s+Class
Movie web. (2011). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://www.movieweb.com/movie/smoke-signals/PGqSytqy6lZetz
Mt. hood. (2011). Retrieved February 12, 2011, from
http://www.campusexplorer.com/colleges/3A51F902/Oregon/Gresham/
Mt-Hood-Community-College-Gresham/
Multicamera-diagram. (2011). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Multicamera-diagram.png
MyNorth.com. (2011). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://www.mynorth.com/My-North/December-2009/Chris-EyrePresents-quotSmoke-Signals-quot-in-Traverse-City/
References 32-36
Native arts. (2009). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://community.livejournal.com/native_arts/tag/artist%20profile
NativeCelebs. (2005). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://www.miigwan.com/nativeamericans3.html
Neumer, C. (2006). Stumped magazine. Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://stumpedmagazine.com/interviews/chris-eyre-transcript.html
PBS mystery. (2004). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/mystery/american/thief/popups/eyre.html
PBS picture. (2011). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/entertainment/BO120638/
References 37-41
Seal of Portland, Oregon. (2011). Retrieved February 12, 2011, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seal_of_Portland_OR.png
Skinwalkers. (2011). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Skinwalkers.JPG
Stahl productions. (2004). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://stahlproductions.com/article.php?article_id=548
SWOSU. (2008). Retrieved February 12, 2011, from
http://www.swosu.edu/news/releases/2008/2008-04-04a.asp
Talltalestruetales. (2009). Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://www.talltalestruetales.com/2009/04/chris-eyreoregonfilmmaker/
References 42-46
A thief of time. (2011). Retrieved February 8, 2011, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367135/
A thousand roads. (2011). Retrieved February 8, 2011, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407254/
University of Arizona. (2011). Retrieved February 12, 2011,
from http://arizona.lawschoolnumbers.com/
University of New York. (2011). Retrieved February 12, 2011,
from http://movement.nyu.edu/commotion/
We shall remain. (2009). Retrieved February 12, 2011, from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/behind_th
e_scenes/photo_gallery
References 47-52
We shall remain. (2009). Retrieved February 12, 2011, from
http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2009/11/all-the-news-that-s-fit-to-sing/we-shallremain.html
We shall remain main page. (2009). Retrieved February 8, 2011, from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/
We shall remain: Cast and crew. (2009). Retrieved February 12, 2011, from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/behind_the_scenes/meet_cast
_and_crew
We shall remain: Cast picture. (2009). Retrieved February 8, 2011, from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/the_films/episode_1_about
We shall remain: Chris Eyre. (2009). Retrieved February 12, 2011, from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/behind_the_scenes/episode_1
_cast_bios#cEyre
Zempel, E. (2008). Zombie reporting center. Retrieved February 22, 2011, from
http://www.zombiereportingcenter.com/page/2/?s=diary+of+the+dead