Private Project

Running Eagle

The North Dakota oil fracking boom transformed quiet small towns nearly overnight into places where enough money will buy you anything—including women. Running Eagle tells the story of Judith, a teenage Blackfeet Indian girl who escapes from sex traffickers in North Dakota and braves the brutal Plains winter, hitchhiking back to her home country: the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. Realizing in her rearview that she is being followed by her captors, she decides to leap out of her eighteen-wheeled ride and into the frozen Triple Divide of Glacier National Park. On foot and still miles to go from home, she risks all battling brutal winter. Running Eagle was a revered Blackfeet warrior princess. In this great escape, Judith embodies Running Eagle’s fight for the Blackfeet people against all odds.

  • Konrad Thọ Fiedler
    Director
  • Konrad Thọ Fiedler
    Writer
  • Konrad Thọ Fiedler
    Producer
  • Tina Trinh
    Producer
  • Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs
    Key Cast
  • Heath McGough
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Thriller, Mystery
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 14, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    30,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.40:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Raindance Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    October 1, 2016
    World Premiere
  • Hawaii International Film Festival
    Honolulu
    United States
    November 8, 2016
    International Premiere
  • deadCenter Film Festival
    Oklahoma City
    United States
    June 9, 2017
    U.S. Premiere
  • Barcelona International Film Festival
    Barcelona
    Spain
    Excellence in Editing
  • Bend Film Festival
    Bend, Oregon
    United States
    October 13, 2017
    Northwest
    Best of the Northwest Short
  • Oxford Film Festival
    Oxford, Mississippi
    United States
    February 10, 2018
    Regional
Director Biography - Konrad Thọ Fiedler

Konrad Thọ Fiedler's directorial debut, RUNNING EAGLE (2017), was awarded Best of the Northwest Short at the BendFilm festival in Oregon.

RUNNING EAGLE was also awarded Best Film Editing at the Barcelona International Film Festival. It was an official selection at Raindance (London), Hawaii International (Honolulu), deadCenter (Oklahoma City), Red Nation (Los Angeles), Oxford (Mississippi), and Taos Shortz (New Mexico) film festivals. RUNNING EAGLE is the prologue to Konrad's first feature film in development, WINTER COUNT.

Also a cinematographer, Konrad completed the cinematography program at the American Film Institute (AFI) conservatory in Los Angeles, where he is currently based and is a cinematography instructor in the Woodbury University Filmmaking program in Burbank.

Prior to filmmaking, Konrad was a staff photographer for The New York Sun newspaper.

Konrad's photojournalism covering the crisis in Darfur is in the permanent collection at the Library of Congress and was nominated for Pulitzer consideration.

He went to high school in McLean, Virginia and attended college at Columbia University in New York City.

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Director Statement

Running Eagle is a young woman's escape from captivity, her struggle to overcome past choices, and her determination to survive, to return home back to her family. In her fearless escape to the ensuing battle with a merciless winter; she remembers a recent experience with her brother hunting buffalo.

Running Eagle is also an introduction to the world and prologue to a first feature, WINTER COUNT.