Smoke Signals Benefits American Indian College Fund

American Indian College Fund
Wednesday, 1 July 1998

Screenwriter & co-producer Sherman Alexie is Fund trustee

NEW YORK (July 1998) – "Your sentence? To be a 20th Century American Indian." With frequent doses of Native humor, characters in the film Smoke Signals overcome challenges of modern Indian reservation life with wit, sadness and spirituality never seen before on the Hollywood screen.

Smoke Signals--the first feature film written and directed by Indians—also benefits the American Indian College Fund's efforts to promote the survival of traditional Native cultures through modern education. Sherman Alexie--the movie's screenwriter and co-producer--is a member of the Fund's board of trustees.

"If you want to help American Indians," Alexie says, "support tribal colleges."

On June 23rd, Miramax Films invited College Fund supporters to a special screening in New York City. College Fund trustee Winona Ryder attended the event, which featured Smoke Signals' director, Chris Eyre, and the film's Indian co-stars. Ryder's friend, actor/screenwriter Matt Damon, also was in attendance.

As the end credits roll, the filmmakers proudly promote their support of the non-profit College Fund. The Fund serves the nation's 30 tribal colleges, which are dedicated to improving Indians' high rates of poverty and educational failure. Upon releasing the movie nationwide on July 3rd, Miramax Films made a $10,000 donation to the College Fund.

"Tribal colleges are changing Indian reservations in the same positive way that lives change in Smoke Signals," said Richard Williams, executive director of the College Fund. "In the movie, Indian characters overcome cultural loss, alcoholism and disconnection with homelands. Our colleges are working every day to help Indian students make better lives for their families and communities."

Smoke Signals is a historic achievement for Indian tribes, who have strong story-telling traditions. Alexie is perhaps the best known Indian writer and poet of his generation, and his works confront Indian stereotypes and contemporary social and political issues.

With ties to both the Coeur d'Alene and Spokane tribes, Alexie was promoting tribal colleges even before he became a Fund trustee in 1996. During frequent readings around the country, Alexie urges non-Indian audiences to learn more about the colleges and to support the College Fund.

In addition to serving as a trustee, Sherman Alexie is a generous donor himself. He has donated money to the Fund. To tribal college libraries, he has given hundreds of his books, including The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (a collection of short stories on which the Smoke Signals screenplay is based).

For more information, or to contact American Indian College Fund, see their website at: www.collegefund.org