A director has arrived in his home city of Aberdeen to bring a popular novel set in a Native American reservation to the screen.
Steven Lewis Simpson, who began his filming career in the Granite City and directed his first feature here, is to return to Aberdeen to show his film Neither Wolf Nor Dog tonight.
Adapted from Kent Nerburn’s award-winning novel, Neither Wolf Nor Dog takes the audience through a poignant and emotional road trip through the heart of contemporary Native American Life by a 95-year old Lakota elder and his side-kick.
The movie is currently in the midst of the longest theatrical run in the USA in over a decade.
The former Cults Academy pupil, who now lives in Bulgaria, was asked to take on the project by the novel’s author Kent Nerburn, after seeing his previous movie Rez Bomb, which was shot on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, as he wanted someone who knew the reservation and was respected.
For the past six years, Mr Simpson has dedicated his time to the film, which has been shown in more than 200 places in America and will now make its way to Scotland.
The 49-year-old said: “Neither Wolf Nor Dog is different to any other feature film I have done.
“It is the first I have directed based on another writer’s work, which indicates how the work spoke to me.
“For the 20 years since the novel was published, film producers had circled it trying to make it into a movie.
“Having had enough of empty Hollywood promises, Kent Nerburn approached me at a screening of my movie Rez Bomb that I’d shot on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and gave me the novel.
“I’d built up such a strong relationship with them over the years because people knew my previous work.”
The movie was filmed over a period of 18 days, with around eight hours of shooting each day.
The Kickstarter raised $25,000, which was used to fund the project.
The cast includes Dave Bald Eagle, who plays Dan, a Lakota elder, and Christopher Sweeney as author Kent Nerburn.
Neither Wolf Nor Dog will premier at Belmont Filmhouse tonight at 8.15pm – tickets available here
