Retribution

Retribution is a piece of a larger story nearly a decade in the making, inspired by such films as The Great Silence, Lost Horizon, and Lonesome Dove. Westerns are her most beloved genre, and it has been a dream to see a woman of color in a position so famously portrayed by men. In this "proof of concept" the lead character, Sister, was named after her Great-Grandmother. The character is heavily inspired by the way in which she navigated the challenges in her life, seeking and taking advantage of opportunities that were not readily given to black women and using it to build a life out of the ordinary. In this short film and in the story to come, Sister must navigate a post civil war world, detaching from what is expected, and embracing violence as a way to expel the rage she feels regarding past enslavement and her lost daughter who was sold. Revenge is the quintessential theme of westerns, and Sister moves forward in the story with the added misery of an inability to seek revenge over the person who has been the cause of her most bitter torment (former slave master). She seeks it instead against the world, one that attempts to disempower her in every way. In the land of lawlessness, she becomes a form of the law with the help of another featured character, Father Van East, in a journey that begins here, in this short film.