Experiencing Interruptions?

Powwow Highway: The Lego Movie

Powwow Highway The Lego Movie was created at Nay Ah Shing School in Mille Lacs, MN in 2019, on the 30th anniversary of the original film.
This stop motion animation was was part of Project Mezinichigejig, a 2019 Mille Lacs Band Summer Youth/Adult Art program designed with the goal to build artistic skill-sets, foster community creativity, cross-cultural sharing, and exposure to fine arts and artists.

  • Jonathan Thunder
    Director
  • Jonathan Thunder
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Short
  • Genres:
    Family
  • Runtime:
    4 minutes 18 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 15, 2019
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival 2020
    Winnipeg
    Canada
    November 24, 2020
Director Biography - Jonathan Thunder

Jonathan Thunder was born in 1977 in the small hospital at the Red Lake Ojibwe Nation in northern Minnesota. Having grown up in the twin cities, Thunder infuses his Ojibwe perspectives with real-time experiences using a wide range of mediums. He is known for his large scale paintings with surreal imagery, as well as animated films and installations in which he addresses subject matter from loss and recovery of Indigenous sovereignty, environmental welfare, and humorous social commentary.

He has attended the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, NM and studied Visual Effects and Motion Graphics in Minneapolis, MN at the Art Institute International. His work has been featured in many state, regional, and national exhibitions, as well as in local and international publications. Thunder is the recipient of a 2020 Pollock – Krasner Foundation Award for painting. He has won several awards for his short films in national and international competitions.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This short film is the result of a wonderful teaching opportunity I was given. I worked with Adrienne Benjamin, of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, to coordinate a weeklong workshop with local youth. It was my pleasure to put this amazing story in front of them and tell them about how Powwow Highway influenced me as a youth, 30 years earlier. Im such a huge fan of Indigenous storytelling, I felt it was the right time, the right place and the right reason, to share my experience through teaching. Each student was presented with a copy of the film and it was made available to the community. No copies of the film are for sale, it can be viewed on some social media platforms and vimeo.