Series/Festivals

The Doe Boy and Boomtown (both unrated) Webster University's commendable Indigenous Cinema series continues with, among other selections, the fictional narrative The Doe Boy(2001) and the 2002 documentary Boomtown, both earnest and unpretentious but compromised by low production values and an expectation of a sympathetic audience. The Doe Boy tells Hunter's coming-of-age story as he comes to terms with an inflexible and abusive father. Hunter (James Duval) acquires his Doe Boy nickname when he accidentally shoots a doe instead of a buck, and his difficulties as a half-white Cherokee escalate and are compounded by his hemophilia. A nonfiction study of difficult lives, Boomtown charts the dependence of many in the Washington State Suquamish tribe on each year's Fourth of July fireworks sales, an outgrowth of familiar historical betrayals and land appropriation by U.S. authorities. Doe Boy screens at 8 p.m. Friday, October 15 (in the Moore Auditorium on the campus of Webster University, 470 E. Lockwood Avenue), with producer/director Randy Redroad in attendance for a Q&A session. Redroad leads a filmmaking workshop at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, October 16. Boomtown screens at 8 p.m. Saturday, October 16, also in the Moore Auditorium. Call 314-968-7487 for more information. (Diane Carson)