Akwesasne - Akwesasne in Popular Culture

Akwesasne in Popular Culture

Frozen River is a 2008 American film written and directed by Courtney Hunt It is set in the North Country of Upstate New York, near Akwesasne and the Canadian border, shortly before Christmas. Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo) is a discount store clerk struggling to raise two sons with her husband, a compulsive gambler who has disappeared with the funds she had earmarked to finance the purchase of a double-wide mobile home. While searching for him, she encounters Lila Littlewolf (Misty Upham), a Mohawk bingo-parlor employee who is driving his car, which she claims she found abandoned with the keys in the ignition at the local bus-station. The two women, who have fallen on hard economic times, form a desperate and uneasy alliance and begin trafficking illegal immigrants from Canada into the United States across the frozen St. Lawrence River for $1200 each per crossing. Frozen River received two Academy Award nominations: Best Actress (Melissa Leo) and Best Original Screenplay (Courtney Hunt). Misty Upham was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female.

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