Art Chowder January | February, Issue 25 | Page 61

I
REGIONAL REPORT
SPOKANE ARTS
t’s powerful, inspiring, and motivating
to spend a few minutes reading about all
the talent in our community, and getting a
glimpse into the hard work and hustle that
has brought them this far. In that vein, I’d
like to share a bit about one of our 2018
SAGA grantees, Counting Coup Media,
who received SAGA funding to create,
produce and release a film called Red Road.
Red Road
Tackling issues of Native identity and
Hollywood distortion, Counting Coup’s
director, cinematographer, and Spokane
tribal member, Ryan Abrahamson, and co-
producer Michael Kane collaborated with
Derrick LaMere (Rocky Boy) at War Pony
Pictures to create the film Red Road. The
filmmakers describe the film as exploring
“the struggle to understand ourselves, this
world, our place in it and how it is okay
to be Indian.” Turning away from Western
depictions of natives as either shaman or
derelict, Red Road follows a protagonist,
“a dude who happens to be a red man
who wears a tie every day and works with
computers and likes to go out with his
friends.” The film was an entirely local
production, with many scenes filmed on
tribal lands in the Spokane area, and the
production was supported primarily by
native cast and crew.
The script for Red Road was written
eight years ago by the director, Ryan
Abrahamson. Five years ago, Michael Kane
helped Abrahamson rewrite some of the
script. For a while, the project remained
on the back burner until they applied for
a SAGA grant from Spokane Arts. While
they weren’t successful with their first
application, they were encouraged by
grants administrator Shelly Wynecoop to
revise based on feedback from the selection
panel and apply again. The next time they
applied, the refined proposal was given a
green light for funding.
January | February 2020
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