"“We used to have petroglyphs,” said Ray Halbritter, the nation representative of the Oneida Indian Nation and the chief executive of its Nation Enterprises.

In a telephone interview on Friday, Mr. Halbritter was explaining his nation’s reasons for dabbling in the movie business by agreeing to finance a planned picture about the Oneidas, their long-ago chief Han Yerry, and their alliance with American colonists during the Revolutionary War, even when others in the Iroquois Confederacy backed the British.

An independent production that is expected to cost $10 million, “First Allies,” as the film is called, is expected to begin shooting in central New York this fall. It will be directed by Kees Van Oostrum, a well-known cinematographer (whose credits include “Gettysburg”), based on the book “Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution,” by Joseph T. Glatthaar and James Kirby Martin. Mr. Halbritter and a pair from Hollywood, Alex Siskin and Sidney Ganis, will have various producing roles."

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Media Decoder: Starring: the Oneida Nation in the Revolutionary War (The New York Times 7/17)