Actor Wes Studi will be honored on Sunday October 22nd at Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, followed by the New Mexican premiere of Hostiles directed by Scott Cooper starring Wes Studi, Christian Bale, and Rosamund Pike.
Hostiles, shot in New Mexico takes place in 1892, legendary Army captain Joseph J. Blocker (Christian Bale) undertakes one final mission before retirement: escort Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) – a dying Cheyenne war chief – and his family back to sacred tribal lands. After 20 years of violent struggle, this gesture of peace is as unthinkable as it is harrowing. Together they battle against a punishing landscape and the brutality of men alike, coming to the rescue of a young widow (Rosamund Pike) amidst the carnage of her murdered family. Two great warriors, once rivals across the battlefield, must learn to trust each other and find peace in an unforgiving land. A heroic odyssey of survival, HOSTILES becomes a story not about the miles traveled nor the battles fought, but the journey towards respect, reconciliation and forgiveness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yuxKRZ_KPk
The actor gained attention in 2016 as Kaetenay in Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful”. Wes is perhaps best known for his powerful portrayal of Magua in “The Last Of The Mohicans”, and starring as Det. Joe Leaphorn in Tony Hillerman’s “Skinwalkers”, “Coyote Waits” and “Thief Of Time” on American Mystery! for PBS. His other film credits include the title role in “Geronimo: An American Legend”, Eytukan, the Na’vi chieftain in “Avatar”, “Dances With Wolves”, “Powwow Highway”, “Street Fighter”, “Deep Rising”, “Heat”, “Undisputed”, “Mystery Men”, “The New World”, and “The Only Good Indian”. He has appeared on television in the PBS series “We Shall Remain”, “The Red Road”, “Kings”, “The Mentalist”, HBO’s “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee”, Larry McMurtry’s “Commanche Moon”, and “Streets of Laredo”, “Into The West”, “Superfire”, American Playhouse PBS “Trial Of Standing Bear”, “Longarm”, “Return To Plum Creek”, and TNT’s “The Broken Chain” and “Crazy Horse”.
Also a musician and songwriter, he plays bass with the band Firecat of Discord. Wes is an expert horse trainer, an accomplished sculptor of stone, and the author of two children’s books for the Cherokee Bilingual/Cross Cultural Education Center. Currently the Spokesman for the Indigenous Language Institute, he is fluent in both spoken and written Cherokee, his native language, and he provided the Cherokee translations for the Pulitzer Prize winning drama “The Kentucky Cycle”. Wes was born in Nofire Hollow, and raised in Northeastern Oklahoma. He currently resides in Santa Fe, NM with his wife, singer-actress Maura Dhu Studi, and their son Kholan.