Last Stand at Little Big Horn (1992)

Producer and director, co-writer with Blackfeet novelist James Welch (Winter in the Blood, Fool's Crow), of a documentary for PBS's THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE series.  The film explores the creation of the myth of Custer's Last Stand by focusing on the larger context of the American conquest of the West, using the voices of both sides of that conflict, Native American and white.  Awards:  Emmy Award, for best research (and nominated for writing), CINE Golden Eagle, American Film Festival Blue Ribbon.   Described by the Chicago Tribune as a “fine experience… allowing us to hear the story of the battle from the Native-American perspective,” by the New York Times as “a moving and intelligent contribution,” and in the Boston Globe as ”Custer wouldn’t have believed it – an Indian collaborating with a white man to write, and right the history.”  Funding support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, PBS, the Native American PBS Consortium and seven state humanities committees.

National PBS broadcast on THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE November 1992 (six million viewers in national audience, one of the most watched PBS programs of 1992-3). 

Last Stand at Little Bighorn production team:

Front Row: Joseph Medicine Crow, Dan Hart, Maia Harris, Anne Craig, Frederica Lefthand, J.T. Takagi

Back Row: Roy Big Crane, Jon Else, James Welch, Paul Stekler

Produced & Directed by Paul Stekler Written by James Welch & Paul Stekler

Narrated by M. Scott Momaday Cinematography by Jon Else & Erik Daarstad

Edited by Michal Goldman, Asst. Editor Laura Nix Associate Producers Anne Craig & Maia Harris

Score by Joseph Mulholland, Lakota Music Calvin Jumping Bull