Tunica-Biloxis dump Weinstein in Wind River Oscar campaign

It’s first movie, Wind River, is a serious Oscar contender, but has become tarnished by a Hollywood sex scandal.

The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe’s second movie, LBJ, was released to theaters Nov. 3 and has been receiving praise from show biz observers since it finished production a year ago.

The Tribe has decided not to let a little thing like the Harvey Weinstein scandal get in the way of a possible homerun on its first trip to the plate. It has decided to take over Wind River’s Oscar campaign itself.

Wind River is also joining some other movies in removing all mention of its distributor, the Weinstein Company, from future released materials -- even though the disgraced producer has, himself, been removed from the company.

TO AID ABUSE VICTIMS

The tribe’s Acacia Entertainment will fully fund the hunt for Oscar gold, Deadline Hollywood magazine reported in late October. There have been more articles on that effort since.

Acacia is also going to redirect Weinstein Company’s profits from the film to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center which serves battered/ abused Native American women.

The plot of Wind River revolves around the murder and sexual assault of an 18-year-old Native American woman on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.

Cast members Julia Jones, Gil Birmingham and Martin Sensmeier attended a private screening and “red carpet” event at the tribe’s Paragon Casino Resort earlier this year. They said they hope the movie brings attention to the problems women face on reservations.

Screenwriter/Director Taylor Sheridan has also said he wants the movie to highlight the issue of sexual assault on reservations.

Wind River was released in August. It stars Jeremy Renner as a wildlife officer and Elizabeth Olsen as a rookie FBI agent working together to solve the murder. The movie affected Olsen so deeply that she volunteers regularly at a rape treatment center.

Wind River received critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival. Sheridan took home the Best Director award from the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. The film cost about $11 million to produce and has grossed about $40.3 million since August.

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