By Frances Herrod
Tvlse,Oklv.- In celebration of Native Heritage Month Tvlse’s only non-profit arthouse movie theater, Circle Cinema, will present a special free showing of Writer/Director Cody Lightning’s mockumentary Hey, Viktor! on Friday, November 29 at 7:30 PM. The showing will feature live stand up comedy hosted by Kels Cooper with a digital introduction via Zoom by Lightning and a Q&A after the show.
The film, co-written by Samuel Miller, tells the not quite true story of Lightning, who played Young Victor in 1998 film Smoke Signals, falling on hard times while attempting to transition from child actor to adult roles. When the roles he’s offered turn out to be more xxxAdultxx than he’d anticipated he starts a quest to self produce a sequel to Smoke Signals, which goes about as well as one might expect. Fair warning for those looking for Smoke Signals Part 2: Rezlectric Boogaloo, though Adam Beach, Irene Bedard, and Gary Farmer are present, the films are more Uncle-Cousins than Cousins.
“Tell everyone you know (to) get ready to see Full Frontal Uncle and have a dysfunctional laugh on my behalf. There’s my style, which is the more raunchy vulgar area of comedy. In Middle School I was voted Class Clown. I was always crafting jokes and at very inappropriate times usually. Now that I’m older, there’s quite a few funerals. I’m the guy cracking jokes at the funeral trying to lighten things up,” said Lightning (Cree First Nations).
“I’m gonna keep the ball rolling there with my comedy stuff. And Hey, Viktor! is not for everyone, but if you know Smoke Signals, then it should be funny.”
Host Kels Cooper (Tsalagi/Chahta), who is producing the event, welcomes this chance to show a less often seen side of Natives.
“You know, laughter is medicine. Laughter is healing. Being together and telling stories is healing and builds community. I’m extremely excited to be able to bring (Hey, Viktor!) to Tvlse. I think it’s just so important for us to have our own movies and stories and especially modern movies or modern films. To just show people that we’re funny in today’s ways, and we’re not just this historical.”
Comedians Jordan Jayi (Mvskoke), Keland Bearpaw (Mvskoke/Euchee/Semvnole/Tsalagi), and Brent Deo (Mvskoke/Euchee), who will be performing live at the event, agree.
“Being able to spread good serious medicine and everyone enjoys themselves. I think that’s the most that I like about comedy and what I’ve really understood in my whole life growing up as an Indian kid and enjoying hanging out with other Indian kids, that we all laughed and we kind of forgot that we were supposed to be, you know, the bad, Indians everywhere or the poor kids. And so, coming back to comedy I’ve always watched the crowd, they literally get a break of what reality feels like, at that time for them. That’s probably my best feelings. That’s how I’m giving back to my community and it’s a good feeling for me,” says Jayi.
Aside from performing, Bearpaw is excited for the film itself.
“I’m actually pretty excited, looking forward to this making people laugh. And also myself getting to laugh. I think it’ll be cool to watch this film because especially with more and more Natives creating things like that, I really enjoy it,” Bearpaw said. “I like seeing Natives on the screen. We are funny, we have humor and we’re not just like mean Indians, mean brothers. We don’t talk like that unless we’ve had a few.”
This type of representation is important according to Deo.
“The more important aspects of media that we see each other the more hope it gives to people coming up. They think that one day they want to do stand up comedy or whatever their goal might be,” Deo said. “Somebody’s success can drive other people to succeed. It’s good for everybody. The rising tide raises all ships.”
As for community, Bearpaw tries to keep it inclusive. “I might talk about something controversial if there’s elders there because I know they were young once. Sometimes I like to take them back there because I know they still act like that. They try to act like they don’t so I just have to bring all that out.”
Sponsored by the Flint Family Foundation, the Native Spotlight series showcases the Native American and Indigenous experience through film. The series offers free screenings of movies across a variety of genres that highlight modern Native artists, according to Bailey Hawkins of Circle Cinema.
Tickets for Hey Viktor! are available day of show on a first come, first served basis so arrive early (or bring your blankets to save your seats). Circle Cinema is located at 10 S Lewis Ave, Tulsa, OK 74104.
You can look for upcoming events for Cody Lightning (@lightning.cody), Kels Cooper (@ladylandback), Jordan Jayai (@jordan_jayi_), Keland Bearpaw (@kelo_bearpaw), Brent Deo (@brentdeofunny), and Circle Cinema (@circlecinema) on Instagram.
This sounds like a cool event.
Too bad the author of this article obviously did not review/edit prior to publishing. There are punctuation errors and words that should not be in a sentence.