Rising Indigenous talents Amber Midthunder, Alyssa Wapanatâhk, and Isabel DeRoy-Olson star as sisters on disparate paths in 1970s L.A. in Marie Clements’ Toronto premiere 'How We Stand'
Writer-director Marie Clements, who premiered “Bones of Crows” in 2022, returns this weekend to the Toronto Film Festival for the world premiere of her latest feature, “How We Stand,” as her new three-part documentary series, “Reclaim My Skin,” waits in the wings for its premiere next month at the Vancouver International Film Festival.
Both projects reveal stories of Indigenous women and the power of their actions and voices to bring about necessary change in the world, their communities, and their own lives.
“There’s a moment when you’re in the room with matriarchs when everything stands still,” Clement recently told Variety, talking about the doc series for the first time.
“I had the honor to interview Gloria Steinem with Indigenous activists Louise Wakerakats:se Herne and Michelle Schenandoah together in New York last year—even at their most passionate they never spoke over each other,” she said. “They gave space and listened, acknowledging differences while also understanding that we have more in common than what works to divide us.”
“Reclaim My Skin” is produced by Marie Clements Media, Screen Siren Pictures and Rezolution Pictures. The series was commissioned by British Columbia’s Knowledge Network in 2024.
“How We Stand,” which Clements adapted from her 2011 stage play “Tombs of the Vanishing Indian,” reflects both harsh truths and positive currents of the eras in which it is set. It’s produced by Marie Clements Media and Screen Siren Pictures. Myriad Pictures is handling international sales. Photon Films is the Canadian distributor.
Three young Oklahoma sisters and their single mother (Cara Jade Myers, “Killer of the Flower Moon”) travel to L.A. in a 1950s relocation program for Native Americans that promises jobs in big cities. But they were sold a bill of goods. After finding community in the city’s cemented riverways, a tragedy separates the sisters, whose lives take different paths on the shifting cultural landscape of 1970s L.A.
“There’s a vibrancy to being alive at any time,” Clements said. “These are modern Indigenous young women who want to grab their futures. They are looking at the world and having a point of view that may or may not land, but are learning who they want to become.”
That vibrancy is enhanced by casting of stellar screen stars in the roles of the adult sisters. Amber Midthunder (“Prey,” “Novocaine”) is a doctor who starts a new job at her white husband’s clinic, Alyssa Wapanatâh (“Peter Pan & Wendy”) plays an outspoken activist who starts auditioning for Native American roles in Hollywood movies, while Isabel DeRoy-Olson (AMC’s “Dark Winds”) has the role of a young women adrift and in distress after a traumatic experience she’s trying to figure out.
“It was incredible to watch these actors lean in and embody these characters,” Clement says.
The stage play was originally commissioned by the Native Voices series at the Autry National Center in L.A. Clements spent time looking through the Autry’s collections in its museums. A colleague’s aunt, who had lived 30 years in the city, told her about the so-called tombs of the riverways where Indigenous people used to meet.
“It started me thinking about the underground – where we can go to be together? – as well as the underground policies that were happening at this time,” she continues.
The screen adaptation allowed Clement to more deeply explore the worlds suggested in her play. “Starting in Oklahoma with the Technicolor beauty of childhood and this young family and the feeling of possibility – what might happen to a family when they’re given a chance?
“But I was also interested in the systems that were happening at the time,” she continues. “We don’t always know that that our lives are being designed by something that we don’t have control of.”
While her new film is set in the past, present and future realities ran through the creation and production of “How We Stand.”
“I want things to change, I think we all want things to change,” Clement says. “And I found myself thinking about children who are being taken away from their families right now, because our families understand being separated and what that does to the core of a family for generations.
“Whether it’s residential school or immigration policies, it’s a profound act to take a member of someone’s family, especially children, away from mothers and fathers. And we’re witnessing that in our time right now.
“The fight in the ’70s was around women’s bodies and women’s rights. And that’s trying to be reversed as we speak, so it really does kind of hit you.
“Things can feel downtrodden but, you know, there are cool women out there who are still working for change, and that is not going to change.”
“How We Stand” has its world premiere at the Toronto International Festival on Sept. 13.