There, There - People and Connections

Tony Loneman

21 year old; born and raised in Oakland; of Cheyenne descent; born with fetal alcohol syndrome ("the Drone"); lives with his grandmother Maxine, deals drugs with Octavio; hides bullets in the bushes for Octavio's plan. When dressed in his regalia and looking into the blank TV screen, he does not see a monster; he sees an Indian dancer.

Thomas Frank

Cheyenne; drummer who worked as a custodian at the Indian Center; was invited to perform at the pow-wow with a group called Southern Moon.

Calvin Johnson

Native; down on his luck; staying with his sister Maggie; owes drug money to his brother Charles (who works with Octavio). On the Pow-wow committee.

Orvil Red Feather

14 year old; one of Jacquie's grandsons; Cheyenne; is deeply interested in his heritage and plans to dance at the pow-wow; tells a childhood story to Dene for the documentary and got $200; pulls spider legs from a bump on his own leg

Edwin Black

Biracial young man (mother Karen is white; father Harvey, whom he has never known, is Native, and Ed reaches out to Harvey through FB); once dreamed of becoming a writer; earned a master's degree in comparative literature with a focus on Native American literature; loves the internet; recently started an internship assisting with the Big Oakland Pow-wow.

Bill Davis

Boyfriend of Edwin's mother Karen; Lakota; longtime maintenance worker at Oakland Coliseum; Vietnam vet who spent 5 years in prison for stabbing a man; read almost the whole time he was in; gets very angry at a drone.

Daniel Gonzalez

Cousin of Octavio; brother of Manny; can make 3D printer guns

Lucas

Dene's deceased uncle, and Opal's long-lost boyfriend. Lucas is a heavy-drinking boom mic operator in Los Angeles who dreams of making movies. Before Lucas dies, he passes on to Dene the idea of making a film which collects raw, unedited stories of people within the Native American community.

Blue

Head of the pow-wow committee at the Indian Center. Works there with Edwin and Calvin.

Loother and Lony

Orvil Red Feather's younger brothers; Jacquie's grandsons; being cared for by Opal. Loother listens to rap; Lony listens to Beethoven

Sixto

Octavio's uncle and the one responsible for Octavio's mother's death

Jacquie Red Feather

Opal's older half-sister who gets pregnant when she is raped on Alcatraz and gives the resulting child up for adoption; a substance abuse counselor who is herself newly sober; raised another daughter Jamie who passed away; now has three grandsons (Orvil, Loother, Lony) for whom Opal is caring.

Octavio Gomez

The drug dealer for whom Tony and Charles (Calvin's brother) work; an Oakland drug dealer whose intimidating, tough demeanor masks a deep and fierce love for his family. Octavio has known great sorrow and loss throughout his life, losing his mother and brother in a car accident and his cousin Manny in a drug-related episode of violence. Octavio, himself in hot water with his higher-ups due to Charles and Carlos's carelessness, comes up with a plan to rob the Big Oakland Powwow. Octavio hopes to use the money to pay his debts and improve things for his family

Ronald

The man with whom Opal and Jacquie live for a time after their mother Vicky's death. Whether he's a blood uncle or simply a friend of their mother's is unclear. The girls ultimately attack Ronald and clear out after he tries to assault a sleeping Jacquie in the middle of the night.

Dene Oxendene

This character says, "We haven't seen the Urban Indian Story. What we've seen is full of the kinds of stereotypes that are the reason no one is interested in the Native story in general; it's too sad, so sad it can't even be entertaining, but more importantly, because of the way it's been portrayed, it looks pathetic..." Young documentary filmmaker enrolled in the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, born and raised in Oakland, Mom is Norma, is carrying a project in memory of his Uncle Lucas, collecting stories of Native people in the Oakland area. His graffiti tag is Lens.

Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield

This character says, "Yeah, Mom's dead, I know. We're alone, but we're not dead. It's not over. We can't just give up. Right?" Woman in her 50s, of Cheyenne descent, at age 11 in 1970 her mother took her and her half sister Jacquie Red Feather to Alcatraz to participate in the Native American occupation of the island, cares for Jacquie's grandsons (Orvil Red Feather, Loother, Lony), postal worker who is superstitious.

Harvey

Was a rambunctious and heavy-drinking teen whose family participated in the occupation of Alcatraz at the same time as Jacquie, Opal, and their mother, Vicky. Harvey and Jacquie flirt, but the interaction ends in an assault. Jacquie becomes pregnant with Harvey's child, and gives the baby up for adoption—unbeknownst to them, the baby girl is adopted by white parents and grows up to adopt the Indian name Blue and work on the Big Oakland Powwow committee. Harvey is also Edwin Black's birth father. After years of alcoholism, Harvey cleans up his act and gets sober. He reconnects with Jacquie at an AA meeting during a conference on substance abuse and suicide in Native communities out in Albuquerque, and the two of them travel to Oakland together for the powwow—which Harvey is emceeing. Harvey is wise enough to know that though he's let people down throughout his life, there's always a chance for redemption and reconnection.