Intertribal Life Newspaper -

• First Native American woman to direct a full-length film

• Co-founder, Tribal Alliance Productions

When Georgina Lightning was 18 years old, her father-who had displayed occasional violent outbursts-committed suicide. Georgina searched for reasons. Her quest for information was the incubating force, which resulted in an idea for a screenplay.

Georgina, a Mushwatchees Cree member of the Samson Band of the Hobbema Indian Reserve near Edmonton, Alberta, remains an outspoken advocate for Native American causes, a characteristic that played well in her decision to research her father's childhood in a boarding school-an era of his life about which he had been strangely quiet.

She took the information she gleaned from other family members and friends who shared their experiences in Indian boarding schools to create a screenplay that she wrote and stars in.

Deeper investigation sent Lightning to the boarding school her father attended. The number of tombstones behind it and the names etched on them were silent testimonies to the many young students who lay beneath them. It shocked and saddened Georgina.

Her film, Older Than America, made its official world premiere in 2008 and showcased Lightning's expertise in bringing to life the Indian boarding school experience and its effects on individuals within a Native community. The film garnered nearly two dozen honors including three Best Feature awards in a number of festival competitions. Shot largely on the Fond du Lac (Minnesota) Indian Reservation, Older Than America also made Georgina Lightning the first Native American woman to direct a feature-length film.

In addition to being an actor, Georgina is also an acting coach, producer and director. She is co-founder of Tribal Alliance Productions which focuses on issues from a Native Indian perspective.

Her acting includes roles in Yellow Wooden Ring (1998) and guest roles in Walker, Texas Ranger (1998-1999), Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998) and Tecumseh.

Lightning was co-producer of the movie Hanbleceya (2005), in which a Native American teen is torn between his father's embracing the broader American culture and his grandfather's adherence to his Native traditions and heritage.

In an annual survey, Filmmaker magazine called Georgina Lightning one of 25 New Faces of Independent Film (2007). She received the White House Project's Epic Award for Emerging Artist in 2010. All three of her children, Crystle, Cody and William Lightning are, or have previously been, actors as well.

A form of this article by KB Schaller appears in 100+ Native American Women Who Changed the World, winner of an International Book Award, Women's Issues Category. Other KB Schaller books are available through amazon.com and other booksellers. Email: soaring-eagles@msn.com