Siren of the Wood

Short Film • Native/Thriller • 13m • Tahlequah, Oklahoma • Screen 4  • Cherokee with English Captions

$5 members, $8 non-members. Includes filmmaker Q&A | Additional Showtimes

Directed by: Christopher Coursey

Siren of the Wood is a pre-contact period sci-fi thriller short, written and directed by Cherokee Nation citizen Christopher Coursey and shown entirely in the Cherokee language.

The film is a dark take on deer woman, a figure who appears in stories across nearly every tribe. As Coursey describes her, she lures untruthful men and unruly children to their doom, and the film embraces that menace. Set in the pre-colonial era and filmed near Tahlequah, it is the second project from Native Fable Movie Production, following Coursey's debut short The River Woe, still on the festival circuit.

The production is rooted in Native talent at every level. An all-Native cast of 13 is led by actress and model Jula Harjo in the title role, alongside Lauren Summers, Bodee Jimerson, Morris Sevenstar, and others, with a majority-Native crew behind the camera. Cherokee language speaker Marlene Ballard worked with the cast on their Cherokee dialogue, and Cherokee artist JeriLynn Weber created historically accurate, pre-colonial ensembles for the ensemble.

About the Director

Christopher Coursey is a Cherokee Nation citizen and lifelong Tahlequah, Oklahoma resident, born in Claremore. A self-taught artist who has been making visual art since the third grade, he has worked in film since 2011 across many areas of art and production. He writes and directs through his company, Native Fable Movie Production, with a focus on Native stories told by Native casts and crews. Siren of the Wood is his second short, following his debut The River Woe.