Iowa's Forgotten Tribe Remembered In Lost Nation, Iowa

A story of American conquest and Native survival will come to light when the critically-acclaimed film, “Lost Nation: The Ioway,” comes to the town that inspired the title--Lost Nation, Iowa on April 12. End Quote

Iowa City, IA (1888PressRelease) April 04, 2008 - The dramatic saga of Iowa's forgotten Ioway Tribe will be remembered in Lost Nation, Iowa if Leslie Schultz has anything to do with it.

Schultz jumped at the opportunity to bring the critically-acclaimed documentary “Lost Nation: The Ioway” to the small Iowa town that inspired the title, and with the help of numerous town sponsors a movie event was organized for April 12th.

"This is an Iowa story that Iowans need to know," Schultz said. "Lost Nation is happy to sponsor this event and bring this important story about the Ioway Tribe to surrounding communities."

“Lost Nation” tells the dramatic true story of two brothers’ struggle to save their people from inevitable American conquest, and the Ioway’s current fight to reclaim and maintain their unique history and culture. After the tribe was removed from its land in the 1830s, the 36 million acres it called home was named “Iowa.” Then, the tribe was forgotten.

The film was featured by invitation at the Beloit International Film Festival in January 2008—one of four film festivals in the country hailed by the New York Times as an alternative to Sundance—and has since been selected for several other festivals.

Film critic Linda Cook of the Quad City Times gave “Lost Nation: The Ioway” 4-out-of-4 stars and said, “The Rundle’s “Ioway” is perfectly complete… A fantastic documentary… You don’t have to be a history buff to enjoy this film.”

The Rundles began shooting the Ioway documentary in July 2005, and in considering a title for the project came upon the small Iowa town of Lost Nation.

“Growing up in the Quad Cities, I was aware of the town of Lost Nation, and always thought the name was intriguing,” said Director Kelly Rundle. “After pulling the Ioway project together, ‘Lost Nation’ seemed like the right title to describe the tribe’s story of loss--loss of land, loss of language, and loss of culture.”

The film combines commentary from Ioway Tribal Elders, Ioway Tribal Members, historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists, with new footage of historic sites, historical photographs and documents, artifacts, art from Ioway artists and national museums; Ioway music, legends, dances, and powwows.

The “Lost Nation: The Ioway” movie event is sponsored by Lost Nation Visions, Ltd., and the combined efforts of numerous Lost Nation businesses, organizations, and individuals. The special event takes place on Saturday, April 12th at the Midland Lost Nation Center, 100 Winter Street, Lost Nation, Iowa.

From 1pm-2pm pre-show events for children and adults include a traditional tipi and artifact display, story-telling with Ioway Tribal Member Pete Fee, and a presentation by archaeologist Mark L. Anderson of the Office of the State Archaeologist. The one-hour film will screen at 2:00pm, followed by discussion and Q&A with film producers Kelly and Tammy Rundle, and film/program participants Fee, Anderson and Palmquist. For more information visit www.LostNation.com.

Lost Nation Visions, Ltd. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit community organization. Its function is to aid in securing grants for community projects.

The Rundles are the owners of Fourth Wall Films, an award-winning independent film and video production company formerly located in Los Angeles, and now based in the Quad Cities. Visit FourthWallFilms.com for more information.

"Lost Nation: The Ioway" was funded in part by Humanities Iowa, the Nebraska Humanities Council, the Kansas Humanities Council, the Oklahoma Humanities Council, Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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