Feature

Abrams, Gordon appear on Dexter: New Blood, will release “The Burning of my Coldspring Home” in 2022

By Tami Watt, Editor

L to R: Bruce Abrams, Michael C. Hall, Caleb Abrams

Caleb Abrams, Wolf Clan, Allegany Territory, has had a busy year! He’ll be releasing his first feature film “The Burning of my Coldspring Home” in the spring of 2022 and consulted on Showtime’s Dexter: New Blood.

A former Media Content Producer for the Seneca Media and Communications Center, Abrams was picked up as the Seneca Consultant for the production of Showtime’s Dexter: New Blood, a miniseries set 10 years after the original series has ended. Dexter Morgan is living a new life under a different alias in the fictitious town of Iron Lake, NY, a tight-knit Seneca community with one of their own as the first female sheriff played by Indigenous actress Julia Jones (Choctaw, Chickasaw).

Serving as the Seneca Consultant, Abrams was able to provide accurate, honest and authentic portrayals of Onöndowa’ga’ people, language, customs and art on-set of the show. “The producers were very receptive to my feedback. It’s incredible to rewatch now and see the things I was able to incorporate in the show.” Not only was Abrams able to include materials on set but was also able to allude to a bigger issue Indigenous families face, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).

Carving by Hayden Haynes

The Indigenous actors that portray Seneca characters wear bead work and carvings crafted by Seneca artists such as Nettie Hepner, Sam Jacobs, and Hayden Haynes. Indigenous art was provided by Pete Jemison and Peter Jones for the living spaces on-set. Music from Sheldon Sundown’s MMIW album can be heard in episode 7. Abrams also recruited Indigenous youth and college students from Syracuse University and Ithaca College as extras including his brother Nathan Abrams in episode 1. Abrams himself makes a cameo in episode 2. He was also able to secure a speaking role for Stephen Gordon, Seneca elder, speaker and former Seneca Nation Councillor. Gordon has appearances in episodes 3 and 7, immersing the audience with Onöndowa’ga’ Gawe:no’, a pivotal moment on screen. Gordon spoke Seneca Language on a national streaming platform as a Seneca character/actor. “Nya:wëh” (thank you), “Akso:d” (grandmother), “No’yeh” (mother), and “ganöhgwa’” (I love you) are some of the regular vocabulary heard throughout the series.

Both Abrams and Gordon were reluctant at first, they were both wary of how Seneca people, culture, and customs would be portrayed. Initially, producers had a romanticized version of the Seneca community to be portrayed. Gordon gives Abrams credit for providing the correct feedback at every turn and his perfectionism. If it wasn’t for Abrams, Gordon would not have accepted the role.

“Bringing people in from the across the Confederacy was really important and probably what I’m most proud of, to see our people have inclusion in film, to be represented,” shares Abrams

Abrams intends to continue to pursue a career in visual storytelling. Growing up in Ohi:yo, he is the grandson of Rovena Abrams, a survivor of the Kinzua Dam removal, a Seneca women’s suffrage advocate, fluent Seneca Language speaker, and an influential figure within the Seneca Nation government. At 98, Mrs. Abrams is the eldest female on the Allegany Territory and was a resource for Seneca Language learners until recent years.

After graduating from Salamanca High School, Abrams attended the Jamestown Community College in Olean, NY. It was there that he came to the realization that many locals in western New York did not know much about us Senecas that live a few miles down the road. None had heard of the injustice of the Kinzua Dam or any other struggles our Nation has faced through colonization efforts. He decided to tell our story, his way, by making a short film. He was not expecting the abundance of positive feedback and accolades that followed but knew he wanted to continue telling Seneca stories through film, accurately.

Abrams worked for the Kinzua Dam Relicensing Commission (KDRC) and served as a producer on “Lake of Betrayal,” a documentary about the construction of the Kinzua Dam that aired on PBS and is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video applications. Working with KDRC and on the documentary led to interviews and relationships with Steve Gordon and many Seneca elders that experienced the forced removal in 1965.

Michael C. Hall & Stephen Gordon

He was especially taken with Gordon’s story “The Burning of my Coldspring Home” due to the emotional and personal account of his experience. He has been working closely and diligently over the course of 10 years with Gordon to translate his words to film. “I want this film to be a bridge between elders like Steve and (someday) my grandkids who will never know someone who lived in Coldspring. He’s a mentor, teacher, uncle, he’s so many things to me, and I have valued the time I was able to spend with him. I appreciate how open the process was because it helps me understand him on a personal level.” Abrams wants to tell the firsthand experience of a Seneca survivor. His goal is to give an intimate look at what life was like and what happened to us.

“My main goal is to bring our people and our stories to a wider audience. I hope our people, above all else, are proud of how they are portrayed on screen, that they want to claim it and feel seen through my work,” explains Abrams.

Gordon shares, “As a Seneca elder, I’m encouraged that a young person like Caleb is interested in our culture and portraying it properly. I wrote my story as a way to heal myself. I was angry for a long time. Angry because I was only 12 when we moved in 1964 and I never got a chance to express how I felt. No one told us kids that we had to move. My parents decided one night that we were going to burn our own house instead of the letting the Corps of Engineers do it. The trauma stayed with me for a long time. Then one day I decided to write it down and close it forever, until Caleb got a hold it.”

Caleb, Julia Jones, & father Bruce

Abrams plans to release “The Burning of my Coldspring Home” this spring with hopes for a premiere and film festival showings in the fall of 2022. The trailer can be viewed on YouTube: