Wakanyeja

Essay 359 • Dec 17th 2018

Shot in my home state of South Dakota over two summers “Wakanyeja” (meaning youth in Lakota) is tribute to the vibrancy and indomitable spirt of the young people living on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian reservations— two of the poorest counties in the country. 




















 

Charlie Buhler
Born in South Dakota to an African American mother and caucasian father, director/photographer Charlie Buhler strives to infuse her inherently multicultural point of view into all of her work. She is especially interested in using her unique perspective to normalize and bring nuance to experiences and narratives that rarely make it on screen: particularly those of women and people of color.  Charlie recently completed her first feature “Before the Fire”, and is in post production on her new documentary, “Rosebud”, which follows the lives of 3 Native American hip-hop artists on the reservation in South Dakota. Her clients include: Target, Google, Calvin Klein, The New York Times and more.

 She is based in Los Angeles.

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