A Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) 2010 Alumni is currently finding success in the career of film, with his movie “Ramblin’” having featured in the Lift-Off Sessions virtual film festival in May.
Christopher Marshall, Muscogee Creek, director and writer of “Ramblin’”, started his journey with film at HINU in his news class. Marshall wrote, filmed, and eventually started producing news stories. Soon after he joined Stories N Motion, a club where they created films. During an email interview, Marshall said, “Ramblin’ was born in Ross Hall in my creative writing class. It was originally a short before I thought that it could work as a feature film.”
Marshall’s cast, Carol Redwing, Yankton Sioux and HINU 2010 Alumni, played Mackenzie Jacobs. Redwing said, “The main cast characters, in real life, we’re all living in different towns—we all had busy schedules and travel to fit in with one another.” During the film process, they had to be flexible with backgrounds and camera angles for the driving scenes.
Marshall said, “trying to schedule shooting days around the schedule of seven adults with kids and careers proved to be troublesome.” About a year and a half later, Marshall and his crew were able to wrap up principal photography and have their first public screening in November of 2019 at the Native American Film Festival at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
Marshall said, ” ‘Ramblin’ was in the ‘workprint’ stage so some scenes only had audio coming out of one channel, some scenes weren’t in black and white and a couple of the establishing shots in the scenes repeated themselves. It was rough! But we got a lot of good feedback and was well received by those in attendance.”
In 2020 they finished re-edits and were ready to show everyone the final product. Marshall said, “It’s so AWESOME to be finally showing the flick to people all over the country and around the globe via the film festivals that we’ve been selected for.”
Redwing also said that it was, “Very exciting! It was really cool to see how each sequence had been edited and to see the final product with the soundtrack added in. The music and score had some excellent pieces from our buddies and it was nice to support their musicianship at the same time. It blows my mind how it all came together—the festival features are icing on the cake.”
“Ramblin’” featured cast that were Marshall’s friends from HINU. When Redwing was asked about her experience with developing long-term friendships with her HINU peers she said, “… I am coming to a point in my life where many of my classmates and friends are now my colleagues in various fields. I am so proud of my Haskell peers and am looking forward to seeing what the future holds. As for the Ramblin’ film crew, we were inseparable at Haskell. I knew deep down that our group would remain life-long friends/family.”
Marshall’s words of encouragement for current Haskell students are, “Haskell provides so many opportunities to a growing student. Don’t just go to class and stay in your dorm: get out, mingle, talk to other students. Join a club. Start a band. Make a movie and make some memories!”
Redwing’s words of encouragement are, “Whether it’s an assignment or just a rough patch: don’t give up. It takes a lot to start or go back to school. Your ancestors see you and they bless you. I had times where I wanted to pack up and put school on pause but I had to always remind myself of the deep opportunities to learn and grow. If you’re coming from a place with a good heart and mind, things will work out in your favor… as time is an illusion. Your essence and drive will be what withstands the tests of time—you might as well soak it all in while you can. Onward Haskell! <3”
