Mohawk Artist Shelley Niro Shows Movie "Kissed By Lightning"

On Thursday April 11th, the movie “Kissed by Lightning,” written and produced by Shelley Niro, was shown at the St. Regis Recreation Center for the community to view. The screening was made possible by Associate Professor, Morgan Perkins, from the Cultural Anthropology and Museum Studies department at SUNY Potsdam.

In this debut feature film for Niro, a Mohawk woman, Mavis Dogblood (Kateri Walker) is an artist living on the Six Nations Reservation. After the loss of her husband Jessie Lightning (Michael Greyeyes), Mavis buries her grief and immerses herself in her art. She basically becomes a recluse until Jessie’s ex wife and 13-year-old son need a place to live and ask to stay with her. She lets them live in the house that her and Jessie built and she moves into her art studio next door.

Mavis struggles to move on and embarks on a series of paintings, “Peacemakers Journey” based upon the stories that Jessie used to tell her. These paintings recreated the faces, stories and the memories of her deceased husband.

An art gallery in New York City wants to do an exhibition of Mavis’s paintings. Her love interest Bug (Eric Schweig), plans on driving her to NYC. However, just before their journey he falls and injures himself. Mavis wants to abandon the trip but Bug insists that they go as planned.

During the trip they meet many characters who help Mavis start chipping away at her wall of grief. While crossing the border they get pulled into customs and questioned about the paintings, even being asked if they are pornographic. They are taken through the lands in New York that were formerly home to the Mohawk. They get lost one night and when they stop to look at a map they see a group of Mohawk warrior spirits crossing the road in search of someone or something.

The pair visit the shrine of Kateri Tekakwitha to deliver prayers for Jessie’s ex wife, Kateri. She had also asked them to stop at Jessie’s mother’s home to give her a picture of her grandson, Zeus, whom she has not seen in many years. Mavis was reluctant to do this since she had never met her mother-in-law.

Mavis and Bug find the home of Jessie’s mother, Josephine (Monique Mojica). Mavis and Josephine bond almost immediately and Mavis confides in her mother-in-law about the struggles she has been having since Jessie’s death. Josephine helps Mavis see that she needs to let go of her grief and allow Bug more fully into her life. She helps Mavis start healing by pointing her back to herself and her culture.

Niro is from Hamilton and grew up on the Six Nations Reservation. She is an artist with works in painting, digital art, sculpting and filmmaking. Niro graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design and went on to receive her Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Western Ontario. In 1998 Niro began the script for “Kissed by Lightning.” “It was during the Bosnia conflict that I started thinking about the world,” commented Niro. “Such ugliness was coming out of our world and I was interested in studying the journey of the Peacemaker. I wanted to write about kindness to one’s self and to fellowman. I also wanted to portray the community that we live in, values we live by and what to teach our children.” Niro also noted that her movie is a “contemporary story influenced by events of Peacemaker’s time and the war in Bosnia.”

From start to production it took 11 years for the movie to be finished and was well worth the wait. The story is beautiful with stunning visuals. The tone is quirky and humorous with music that is hauntingly beautiful and an important part of the film experience. The 12 portrait series of the Peacemaker’s Journey is also a wonderful addition to the movie with all the gorgeous paintings painted by Niro. The characters have depth and the viewer can identify with them.

“A painting can only show so much. A film takes an idea to another dimension; you have sound, dialogue and color,” commented Niro when asked why she took on producing a feature film. She has made other short films such as Suite Indian, Honey Moccasin, and The Shirt.

Katsitisionni Fox viewed the movie for the first time on Thursday and liked how “the story is about us today. The character development is realistic there is not the typical stereotyping. The music and artwork is amazing. It was a really good movie.”