Private Project

TAKING ALCATRAZ

On November 20,1969 a group of Native Americans landed on Alcatraz Island and claimed it as their own. They stayed for 19 months. While the media reported every move and the government fought to stop them, families moved in, thousands of supporters visited or sent supplies, and drums beat far into the night. After centuries of seeing their land stolen from them, Native Americans seized the rocky island and held on to it. Alcatraz became a symbol of hope, inspiration and change for Indian people everywhere.

  • JOHN FERRY
    Director
    Sitting Bull: A Stone in My Heart, Making it.
  • Grace De Soto Ferry
    Writer
    Siting Bull: A Stone in My Heart, Contrary Warrior, Making It
  • John Ferry
    Producer
    Sitting Bull: A Stone in My Heart, Contrary Warrior, Makin' It
  • Adam Fortunate Eagle, John Trudel, LaNada Means, Earl Livermore, Stella Leach
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Runtime:
    40 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    June 15, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Tiburon International Film Festival
    Tiburon, CA
    United States
    April 19, 2016
  • Big Water Film Festival - 2nd Place
    Ashland, WI
    United States
    November 5, 2015
    Word Premier
    Honorable Mention (2nd place, doumentary catergory)
Distribution Information
  • LilliMar Pictures
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - JOHN FERRY

JOHN FERRY, Producer, Director, and Editor,
has been involved in documentary film production since 1975. He worked closely with Academy Award-winner filmmaker Robert Snyder on such films as Reflections R. Buckminster Fuller (for the United States Information Agency), Claudio Arrau: A Life in Music, Ruth Asawa: of Forms and Growth, Willem De Kooning: Artist, The Vatican Collection, Michelangelo: Self-Portrait, Pablo Casals: A Cry For Peace, and Henry Miller: To Paint is to love again.
In 2006 he and his wife, Grace De Soto Ferry, started their own production company, LilliMar pictures, and produced and directed the award-winning films, Sitting Bull: A Stone in My Heart, Contrary Warrior: The Life and Times of Adam Fortunate Eagle, and Making’ It. Taking Alcatraz is the fourth film for LilliMar.

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Director Statement

After 46 years many have forgotten the significance of this important historical event in American Indian history abd are not aware how so many fought and sacrificed to gain social equality and justice. This film is meant to be a "primer," or introduction, to the takeover of Alcatraz Island by Native Americans and the positive social changes that it brought about for all Native Americans. It is designed to provoke further interest and study.