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War Pony is a 2022 American drama film directed and produced by Riley Keough and Gina Gammell—in both of their respective feature directorial debuts—from a screenplay by Keough, Gammell, Franklin Sioux Bob and Bill Reddy. It stars Jojo Bapteise Whiting and Ladainian Crazy Thunder.
| War Pony | |
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| Directed by |
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| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | David Gallego |
| Edited by |
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Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Momentum Pictures |
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Running time | 115 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $101,408[2] |
It had its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section on May 21, 2022, and won the Caméra d'Or, which is awarded for the best first feature film. It was released in the United States on July 28, 2023, by Momentum Pictures.
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Follows the intertwined lives of two young Lakota boys living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.[3] One is Bill, a 23 year old father of two slackers.[3] The other is Matho Bill, a 12 year old drug dealer.[3]
- Jojo Bapteise Whiting as Bill
- LaDainian Crazy Thunder as Matho
- Ashley Shelton as Allison
- Sprague Hollander as Tim
- Jesse Schmockel as Echo
- Ta-Yamni Long Black Cat as Donny
- Wilma Colhof as Mama
- Iona Red Bear as Auntie
- Stanley Good Voice Elk as Dusty
- Steven Yellow Hawk as Steven
- Jen Mesteth as Jen
- Wasose Garcia as Mason
- Robert Stover as Colton
- Woodrow Lone Elk as Elias
- Jeremy Corbin Cottier as Baby Worm
In 2015, while on production of American Honey, Riley Keough befriended two extras, Franklin Sioux Bob and Bill Reddy, while filming in South Dakota and later introduced them to her best friend Gina Gammell.[4] Over the course of several years, the project began to take shape, through writing workshops, improvisation sessions, and meeting hundreds of locals in the community, to make the story authentic.[5][6] The group began discussing an idea for a film revolving around two indigenous locals growing up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.[7] They began writing the script based upon Bob and Reddy's life experiences and stories they had heard, ending up with too much material, and decided to split the story between two characters, and collaborated with local producer Willi White.[8]
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The film had its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2022, in the Un Certain Regard section.[9] It won the Caméra d'Or for Best First Feature.[10] Shortly after, Picturehouse Entertainment acquired U.K. and Irish distribution rights to the film.[11] In March 2023, Momentum Pictures acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film.[12] It was released in the United Kingdom on June 9, 2023.[13] and in the United States on July 28, 2023.[14]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 54 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "With subtlety and authenticity, War Pony tracks the lives of two young Indigenous men and cements the two women behind the lens, Riley Keough and Gina Gammell, as talents to watch."[15] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 70 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[16]
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