“Lost Nation: The Ioway” Premieres in Missouri

An Unforgettable and Vivid Journey into America’s Native Past & Present

“Lost Nation: The Ioway” reveals how a small tribe’s quest for survival in the past has evolved into a struggle to retain their unique culture and language in the present. Through interviews with Ioway elders, historians and archaeologists, filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle help bring to life the true, dramatic story of the tribe that once claimed the territory between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.

“Lost Nation: The Ioway” premiered in October 2007 and has been shown more than 100 times in more than 65 cities across the U.S. Two screenings of “Lost Nation: The Ioway”, will occur in Missouri on Thursday, November 18.

• KCPT-PBS, Kansas City, MO/KS: Television broadcast at 8 p.m.
• Missouri State Archives Theater, 600 West Main Street, Jefferson City, MO: 7 p.m. The screening is free of charge and open to the public. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

o Following the screening will be a Q & A with the Rundles and 2009 Missouri Humanities Council Governor’s Humanities Award winner, historian Greg Olson, Curator of Exhibits and Special Projects at the State Archives. Olson received a Governor’s Humanities Award for his book, “The Ioway in Missouri,”one of the most recent books to be written about the Ioway tribe and the first to focus on their role in Missouri’s colonial and early statehood periods.

“My participation in ‘Lost Nation’ was timely because while it was in production, I was writing my book ‘The Ioway in Missouri’ and had just published an article about the Ioway leader White Cloud, or Mahaska, in the Missouri Historical Review,” said Olson. “Mahaska struggled to lead his people through the dramatic changes that took place after whites settled Missouri and Iowa. In the end, his effort led to his murder by a few of his own people. His tragic story ended up becoming the backdrop against which the history of the Ioway is told in ‘Lost Nation.’ The film shows that despite those challenges, the Ioway have persevered and remain a strong people with a vibrant culture today.”

“Lost Nation: The Ioway” was made possible through grants received from Humanities Iowa, the Nebraska Humanities Council, the Kansas Humanities Council, the Oklahoma Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities and Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area. The documentary is available on DVD and features an alternative soundtrack in the nearly extinct Ioway language, known as Báxoje (bah-kho’-jay), and a 10-minute version of the film for young children. For more information on the “Lost Nation: The Ioway,” visit http://www.iowaymovie.com

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