Filmmakers Jim Sheridan and Andrew Troy have signed a deal to co-direct, write, and produce the historical drama I Am a Man: The True Story of Chief Standing Bear.
With formal Resolutions of Support from the Ponca Tribe, the film will depict the Ponca's trail of tears march that led to the 1879 landmark trial of Standing Bear v the United States of America.
This mostly unknown legal case helped all Native Americans to be considered human beings under the law also setting legal precedent for many future civil rights matters within the US courts.
Jim Sheridan's CV includes My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father and In America. His films have received sixteen Oscar nominations and have won two Academy Awards as well as numerous prestigious international awards.
Andrew Troy is a Hollywood-based producer and director who has spent the past decade developing the project also gaining the support of US and State Officials and Native Americans alike who are enthusiastic about the telling of Standing Bear’s legacy.
Troy (Salinger, The Runaways, Growing Up Smith) recently directed the upcoming film Midnight in the Orange Grove which he co-wrote with American Psycho writer Guinevere Turner.
"I learned that even Native people are unfamiliar with his name and the impact he had on their lives," Troy notes. "Chief Standing Bear’s story needs to be told."
