BY SCOTT STIFFLER | Over a half-century of imprisonment came to an end in early 2025, when American Indian Movement (AIM) activist Leonard Peltier’s sentence was commuted, as one of President Biden’s last official actions before leaving office. Since then, the now-82-year-old Peltier has lived under house arrest.

Peltier admitted participation in a June 26, 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, but has long-denied killing two of the FBI agents involved. Nonetheless, his trial for those deaths resulted in a sentence of two consecutive life terms. That sentence has long been the stuff of protest, with Amnesty International and the Dalai Lama among those calling for clemency.

Now, a new film—Free Leonard Peltier—casts a documentarian’s gaze upon “one of the most discredited convictions in modern America” by using “astonishing archival footage and AI recreations” to “chronicle the five-decade campaign to exonerate the most famous living Native American activist.” That chronicle includes 2025’s commutation of Peltier’s sentence—an unexpected game-changer that required the doc’s two directors to film new footage accounting for his return to the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota.

The documentary is available to stream on Netflix as of October 12. A theatrical run precedes it—in NYC, at IFC Center (323 Sixth Ave.) from Friday, October 2 through Thursday, October 8, screening at 11am, 1:15pm, & 6:30pm daily. For tickets ($19.95 General Admission; $16.95 Senior/Child), click here. Runtime: 110 minutes. A Q&A with Directors Jesse Short Bull and David France follows the 6:30pm screenings on October 2 & 3, and after the 1:15pm screening on October 4.  To visit the film’s website, click here.

For a different, decidedly unique window into the life—the inner life—of Leonard Peltier, an exhibition of art created during his decades of imprisonment (The Art of Leonard Peltier) takes place from 2pm to 7pm on Sunday, October 4, at the 15th Street Quaker Meetinghouse (15 Rutherford Place, NYC). Hosting this exhibition—which anticipates participation from home-confined Peltier via live video—is Reverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir. (Note: To view Peltier’s artwork, click here.)

Clad in a white suit and black collar topped by a head of heavenly hair recalling the best efforts of a charismatic 1970s TV preacher, NYC-based Rev. Billy garnered early career attention decades ago, for turning his visit to the Times Square Disney Store into a circus tent revival complete with anti-consumerism sermonizing and Greek chorus backup from the robed, righteous ranks of the Stop Shopping Choir. In recent years, that ministry has expanded its spend-less message to an “Earth First” macro-mission: Facilitate global healing by drastically decreasing the mass production of utterly unnecessary creature comforts.

This return-to-simplicity mindset pairs exceedingly well with the Native American practice of living with the land, not on it. Which makes Rev. Bill & Choir the very appropriate hosts for October 4’s exhibition (and sale) of Peltier’s art. Even the Quaker origins of the venue—where Rev. Billy & Choir are in residence—is in alignment with the notion of harmony via simplicity. 

Chelsea Community News spoke with Rev. Billy by phone a few days before publication of the piece you’re reading right now. Asked how he came to know Peltier personally, the Rev. recalled this past summer’s time spent as the opening act on tour with Neil Young. “Somehow, I was walking messages back and forth between Leonard and Neil Young. I look back [on it] and it’s sort of grandly absurd,” said Rev. Billy.

On October 4, 20 of Peltier’s paintings will be on display—and will be for sale—at the 15th St. Quaker Meeting House. The work will be delivered to NYC by a son and a grandson of Peltier, noted Rev. Billy, adding, “They’ll be trucking it in from Turtle Mountain [Reservation].” Proceeds from all sales will go toward maintaining the artist’s health and wellness–an ongoing challenge, noted Rev. Billy, who noted the human act of commutation was enacted without any resources or support system, after years of sub-par health care while in prison. 

Asked about works visitors will see on October 4, Rev. Billy said he didn’t know any specific titles among the 20 pieces, but was hoping the collection would include a painting of Debra White Plume, a friend of Leonard Peltier and an American Indian Movement (AIM) founding member. In a full-circle, connect-the-dots, six-degrees-of narrative that goes from his childhood to his Occupy Wall Street (OWS) days to the present, Rev. Billy spoke about the lasting impact of having witnessed a woman standing on a stone bench in Zuccotti Park during OWS. “I ended up listening to her preach… Her name was Eagle Woman, and she was giving me a straight up prophecy; an apocalyptic prophecy.”

Returning to our own interview, the impact of that sermon/prophecy is placed into current context thusly: “When I was a kid,” recalls Rev. Billy (aka William “Bill” Talen), “I lived in South Dakota, not far from some of the origin tribes of this woman… So for me, it was like somebody rising up from my past—our ancient past and my personal boyhood—and talking about the future. She was saying, ‘The Earth is listening to us, and asking us to work with her’… That’s outside the language of the environmental movement, but I’m drawn to it, emotionally. It’s difficult for a child of the West to think of the Earth as a spirit or a personality with a purpose. But that doorway is opened when you are with somebody of [Native American] Indian culture.”

The Art of Leonard Peltier

Sunday, October 4, 2pm to 7pm

At the 15th St. Quaker Meeting House

15 Rutherford Place, NYC

To RSVP (optional), click here

Note: The ground floor Meeting Room is wheelchair accessible via a ramp on the 15th Street side, and ADA-compliant, gender-neutral restrooms are available.

To view Peltier’s artwork, click here.

To visit Reverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir online, click here.

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