RAPID CITY, SD-"We found the perfect Dan," said independent filmmaker Steven Lewis Simpson in describing how he managed to bring the book Neither Wolf Nor Dog to the movie screen.

Simpson meant that the key to realization of the picture was Cheyenne River Lakota elder David Beautiful Bald Eagle, cast in the role of Dan in the soon-to-be-completed fiction film by the same name as the book.

A producer-director and cinematographer from Scotland, Simpson spoke at a presentation entitled "Book to Film," which was among several special events at the Black Hills Film Festival that were m...