Rich-Heape Films will host the East coast premiere of its award-winning documentary Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy  at Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington, D.C., July 1 – July 8, 2007. The film explores America’s darkest period—President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation to Oklahoma in 1838. Presented by Wes Studi and narrated by James Earle Jones, Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy  has already captured an impressive array of awards, including:

• Silver World Medal for History, New York Festivals 2007       
• Silver Film Award, Telly Awards 2007       
• Best Documentary, American Indian Film Festival 2006
• Founder’s Award, International Cherokee Film Festival 2006 

Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy  will be shown daily July 1 through July 8 at 1:30 pm at the NMAI on the National Mall. The screenings are free and open to the public. Executive producer Steven R. Heape and director Chip Richie will engage in a post-screening discussion following the July 7^th and 8^th showings.   

A Native American-owned corporation, Rich-Heape Films was founded in 1994 to inform, educate and encourage awareness of Native Peoples, and to preserve the history and culture of the American Indian. The American Indian Chamber of Commerce recognized Rich-Heape Films as Business of the Year 1999 and 2003 and, most recently, American Indian Advocate of the Year 2006. 

Steven R. Heape, a Cherokee Nation citizen, is an inaugural inductee in the National Cowboys of Color Hall of Fame and Museum, founder and president of the Sovereign Nations Preservation Project, and was commended by the 108th Congress for his extraordinary efforts to document and preserve Native American culture. Chip Richie has won numerous awards for his filmmaking, which includes corporate videos, television commercials and documentaries.  For more information, go to www.richheape.com

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 Rich-Heape Films is currently working on their next documentary, Indian Boarding School. If past work is any indication, you can bet this upcoming project will knock your socks off in content, presentation, and production values. Take a look at this teaser for more… Indian Boarding School Trailer