Documentary follows couple as they navigate cultural differences
The feature documentary film “Non Western,” a film about a Native/non-Native American couple from Montana getting married, was recently released by TrueStory independent documentary streaming platform.
Funded by the Montana Film Office and TV UNAM, the film follows Thaddeus and Nanci in the lead up to their wedding, as they face their biggest challenge yet. Thaddeus wants Nanci to convert to his Cheyenne way of life even if it forces Nanci into a subordinate role.
Both Nanci and Thaddeus were adopted as teenagers by families with different ethnicities — Thaddeus by a white Christian family, and Nanci by the Lakota Tribe. It’s no coincidence they have sought shared experience and understanding in one another.
Thaddeus believes in returning to his Cheyenne culture and through running sweats he finds peace from the PTSD he suffers. Nanci wants to find a balance between life in the modern world and her Native traditions even if that means denying her independence. Under the strain of trying to co-habit and survive together, the cracks in their values show through — cracks which reveal not just the trauma they suffered growing up, but the chain of oppression endemic in Montana.
Released in 2020, “Non Western” was selected for DocBarcelona Public Pitch, Rough/Ready Sessions at Sheffield Doc Festival and 1:1 Meetings in the Camden International Film Festival.
The film was directed by Laura Plancarte who lives and works in London. In 2015, she presented her first feature film “Tierra Caliente” at Guadalajara’s International Film Festival, and won best feature film at WoFF in Glasgow. She traveled to Montana to film “Hermanos,” her second feature documentary, which was acquired by Amazon Prime and won the audience award for best documentary at Indie & Foreign Film Festival, New York, at WoFF in Glasgow and an IMPACT Doc award in the U.S. “Non Western” is her third documentary.
For more details about the film, visit https://www.truestory.film/non-western