Anyone who follows news coming out of the Sundance Film Festival may already be familiar with the story of Free Leonard Peltier from directors Jesse Short Bull (Lakota Nation vs. the United States) and David France (Welcome to Chechnya). Peltier is an activist who spent decades in a federal prison for the 1975 deaths of two FBI agents during a shootout between the agency and AIM protesters at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. He always maintained his innocence, and numerous lawyers and legal activists fought tirelessly for his release over the years.
Free Leonard Peltier is simultaneously entertaining, engrossing, and eye-opening, and easily one of the best of its kind to emerge this year.
Producer Jhane Myers(Hulu’s 2022 Predator film Prey) attended deadCenter 2025‘s Friday night screening. During the post-film talkback session, she shared the exciting story behind the scenes detailing the Sundance debut. The film was recut on the eve of the premiere after former President Joe Biden, in the last few minutes of his presidency, pardoned Peltier. This fundamentally changed Free Leonard Peltier‘s ending.
With Peltier now free, it’s tempting to shift the reflection from a rallying cry to a history lesson about a woefully little-known story. This cannot be further from the point. Though the ending has changed, the film still possesses a potent spirit of rebellion and acts as a call to action. Told through a wealth of archival footage, the film unearths never-before-seen footage, providing new details and lessons to be learned from Peltier, AIM, and the myriad ways the U.S. government wronged the Native people of this land.
Myers revealed there were hours of other interviews and stories the documentary didn’t have time to address. The density of the case is a testament to how many people wanted to speak on behalf of Peltier. She also revealed a bit about Peltier’s new life outside of prison, how he’s adjusting, and what comes next for the 80-year-old. As Peltier himself states in a recorded message that appeared after the film, his story is not yet over. Perhaps there will be a follow-up.
Despite the timely story of wrongful conviction, there’s a struggle to get this film in front of a wider audience. Free Leonard Peltier is still looking for a distributor. Those interested in keeping up with upcoming screenings can do so at the film’s official website, FreeLeonardFilm.com.
Find more deadCenter 2025 coverage like this at The Cinematropolis.
