Private Project

The River

A mother struggling with problem gambling is at war with herself and puts her family in the crossfire.

A poignant exploration of family, addiction, and cultural legacy, set against the backdrop of the Gila River Indian Reservation. The story follows three generations of basket makers from the O’otham tribe: Rocky, a mother with gambling problems, her auntie, Nan, and her
teenage daughter, Maya. Auntie Nan and Maya are gathering materials from the river for basketmaking, while Rocky secretly attempts to sell a family heirloom basket in an empty parking lot. The continuity of tradition is juxtaposed with the turmoil of trauma. As the story unfolds, Rocky wins a significant sum of money at a casino but faces rejection from her family. Maya is awakened from a nightmare, shaken and uncertain; and Nan is once again thrust into a painful situation with difficult choices. Rocky’s misguided return home to reconnect highlights the complex and fragile bonds of love and family. THE RIVER is a story about redemption, resilience, and the ties that bind us to our heritage and each other

  • Claude Jackson Jr
    Writer
    In Circles, Cashed Out
  • Clare Cooney
    Director
    Departing Seniors, Pick Up, Runner, After: A Love Story
  • Rainbow Dickerson
    Producer
  • Rainbow Dickerson
    Key Cast
    "Rocky Camu"
    Avatar: The Last Airbender, Beans, Gone, Chicago Fire, Banshee
  • Geoff Marslett
    Key Cast
    "Buyer"
    Quantum Cowboys, Dear Mr. Brody, Rush, Tumbstone-Rashomon
  • Jennifer Bobiwash
    Key Cast
    "Nan Camu"
    Maginum P.I., Rutherford Falls, The Transcenders
  • Susanna Osife
    Key Cast
    "Maya Camu"
  • Mary Coleman Way
    Executive Producer
    Frybread Face & Me, REALITY, Sugarcane, We Were Dangerous, Oh Canada, War Is Over
  • Glenn Stanton
    Co-Executive Producer
    One Eye Open, After: A Love Story
  • Robert Jackson
    Co-Producers
    In Circles
  • Claude Jackson Jr
    Co-Producers
    In Circles
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 10 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 31, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    45,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Clare Cooney

INDIGENOUS FORWARD: Writer / Cast / Crew / Story
WOMEN LED: Director, Producer, EP, DP, Cast

WRITER Bio -
Claude Jackson is an accomplished writer and the Director of the Gila River Indian Community Defense Services Office. Together with his brother, Roberto, they produced and directed the feature film, IN CIRCLES, with their company Mile 213 Productions. The short film, THE RIVER, is their second film. THE RIVER was inspired by Claude’s short play, Cashed Out, which won the Native Voices at the Autry Short Play Festival (2019). Claude was later commissioned by San Francisco Playhouse to adapt Cashed Out into a full-length play which made it’s World Premiere in January of 2023.

DIRECTOR Bio -
Clare Cooney is an LA-based director with an affinity for grounded dramas and thrillers. Clare's feature film DEPARTING SENIORS will premiere this August at FrightFest in London. The film was part of the inaugural Cannes’ Fantastic Pavilion 2023 and was featured in Variety. Her award-winning short films RUNNER, PICK UP, and AFTER (A LOVE STORY) have played at Academy- Qualifying festivals across the country. Clare has been featured twice in NewCity magazine’s Film 50 list and has received press from Deadline, Variety, Roger Ebert, and TimeOut.

PRODUCER / ACTOR Bio -
Award winning actor / creator and recipient of a TIFF Rising Star, Vancouver Film Critic’s Best Supporting Actress, and Prix Iris Revelation of the Year Nomination for her work in the feature BEANS, directed by Tracey Deer. She is an alumna of ABC Disney Discovers and has performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and at top regional theatres across the USA. Selected credits include AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER, BEANS, GONE, BANSHEE, CHICAGO FIRE. Represented by Liberman Zerman Management. Thai, Rappahannock, Caucasian descent.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

WRITERS STATEMENT
On the surface The River is about Rocky Camu, a loving mother who is also addicted to gambling. My childhood and my current job as a public defender for my tribe give me an intimate perspective about addiction.

At Mile213 Productions, our mission is to tell stories that center Indigenous voices with honesty, power, and cinematic integrity. As Native filmmakers, we believe our work must reflect the complexity, resilience, and beauty of our communities—not through stereotypes, but through layered, human storytelling that resonates across cultures. With films like The River, we’ve aimed to capture raw, character-driven moments that reflect lived realities—anchored in authenticity, but crafted with a poetic eye. Our visual style leans into naturalism: handheld cameras, unpolished light, and intimate framing that lets performances breathe and environments speak. We want the viewer to feel like they’ve stepped into the world, not just observed it.

Our goal moving forward is to expand this vision—to elevate Indigenous stories that aren’t just about survival, but about spirit, complexity, humor, resistance, and transformation. Whether it’s a short film on gambling addiction affecting Native women, a feature coming of age story on the Rez (In Circles, 2015), or other projects (Olivia,2023, a modern day Western, shedding light on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples), we aim to build a body of work that challenges, uplifts, and stays rooted in truth. Mile213 is not just a production company—it’s a point of origin, a highway marker on the Gila River Reservation where our stories begin. Through our films, we invite audiences to travel with us.

PRODUCERS STATEMENT
I was first exposed to this story in 2019 when a version of the script won the Native Voices Short Play Festival in LA. I then championed and helped shape the story as it grew into a full length play, premiering at the San Francisco Playhouse in early 2023. I couldn’t be more proud to now Produce this short film incarnation of the story. However my first exposure to problem gambling came much earlier, as a child, looking up at my father. I wish I could go back and ask him about self-worth, about how he was feeling, about what he was fighting so hard to forget, and why he felt lacking in some way. He wasn't perfect, but he was ours, and he was loved. For better or worse, we didn't label or diagnose his problematic gambling, we just lived with it. My hope is that this film opens eyes and hearts, educates, and begins conversations both at the family dining table and on a global scale.

DIRECTORS STATEMENT
Family legacies can be complicated. The traditions, strengths, and honor of a family name can be a source of pride and identity, but those legacies can be a double- edged sword. The pressure to live up to a family legacy can be painful — I’ve felt it myself, as a single, broke artist born from a large, high-achieving, home-owning, upper-middle- class family. The shame of not living up to one’s family legacy can be crippling. That’s the thing about families. They might give us our eye color, our belief system, our stories, our spirituality, or a shared talent passed down through generations, but those beautiful historical gifts sometimes come with darker, more painful heirlooms - a pattern of mental illness, of anger, of addiction, of trauma, of abuse. Every family is different. This film explores one family’s legacy, both good and bad, through the lens of a flawed, complex woman who is wrestling with her identity, her past, and her family members, both living and deceased.