War Pony

In the Pine Ridge Reservation in the state of South Dakota live Bill and Matho, two Oglala Lakota boys. A father of two to two different women, 23-year-old Bill lives from day to day, not worrying about anything. Yet he is the type who sees opportunities to make money everywhere, for instance by breeding poodles. Matho is 12, but cannot wait to grow up. When Matho finds his drug-dealing father's meth supply one day, he and his friends decide to deal it themselves. But of course that does not go well, especially when his father discovers where his trade has gone. Bill and Matho don't know each other, yet they have a lot in common.

This film, the directorial debut of Gina Gammell and Riley Keough, is a realistic coming-of-age drama that paints an intimate portrait of life on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The directors emphasise that the end result is a collective achievement created in close collaboration with the local community. Awarded at Cannes.