Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, November 18: INDIAN RELAY
Charles Dye’s trackside exploration of a Native American equestrian sport premiered at the National Museum of the American Indian this past Spring. It’s also screened at community screenings in New Mexico, Montana, Idaho, Santa Fe, and Seattle, among others, before making its broadcast premiere in Montana last month. Independent Lens now brings the doc nationwide in nearly 1000 PBS broadcasts in commemoration of Native American Heritage Month.
With origins as a competitive sport going at least as far back as the mid 19th century and likely earlier, the unique sport of Indian relay horse racing has proven popular in the American West but remains largely unknown outside. Dye’s film introduces viewers to the competition, where up to eight jockeys ride bareback, switching to a new horse after the first two of three laps, often at over 40 miles per hour. Following three teams hailing from First Nations in Idaho and Montana, Dye chronicles the ups and downs of one season for young neophyte Miles of the Blackfeet Nation, the up-and-coming Tissidimit team from the Shoshone-Bannock Nation, and early favorites MM Express from the Crow Agency of the Apsaalooke Nation. While there are a few too many subjects crammed into the film’s television hour length to form a fully-rounded picture of any of them, Dye manages to successfully capture the energy – and danger – of the sport, the love shown to the horses, and how the relay offers its participants, and spectators, the opportunity to honor Native traditions and culture.
what (not) to doc 