THE FEW, THE PROUD
A charismatic Marine recruiter must decide how far he’ll go, once he catches his reflection in a young tortured soul.
SHORT FILM · LOS ANGELES · 2026 · USC SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTS
directed by alika mteuzi
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Somewhere in LA, there’s a strip mall full of active duty recruiters with a quota to fill. On the wall behind the desk there’s a replica MG42 and a Barrett .50 cal crossed over an American flag, very subtle. Underneath it sits Sgt Eto, 26, never missed an arm day, thinks he’s running game on this stoner Native kid named Sammy.
The next day Eto rolls up to Booker T. Washington High, where Ames is already at the pull-up bar knocking out reps for a gaggle of teenage girls fawning over him like he’s somebody.
Strolling out of the school walks Malachi, 18, locs, painted nails, long sleeves in the sun. He stops to take pictures of some birds. Eto lights up. He buys Malachi a burger for the price of his name.
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We love and honor veterans. Honoring them means telling the truth about the system they served.
I come to that truth as a Black woman and a Native woman. My mother and I are enrolled citizens of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and descendants of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Peoples. My father is a Black man born in Little Rock, Arkansas, a descendant of what I call the stolen people of Alkebu-Lan (Afrika). This country was built on stolen land by stolen people and will always require the death of our children to keep itself alive.
My great uncle Harvey Pratt was a Cheyenne Peace Chief, the highest honor of the Cheyenne Nation. He was also an OSBI agent and a Military Hall of Fame inductee. Shortly after he began his journey home on December 31, 2025, I sat in a room full of Native people in full regalia alongside cops, Feds, and veterans in uniform. That image has not left me.
Serving an institution that has been at war with your own people is the weight our protagonist carries through this film. To function, that institution relies on the vulnerabilities of young people, many of them from poor neighborhoods who are just looking for a way out, and it needs someone to go and get them, usually someone from the same neighborhood.
The Few, The Proud is a story about the heavy cost of being a gear in that machine.
alika sheyahshe mteuzi
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Tone. Deadpan and observational. Systemic critique through one character’s ordinary day.
Look. Female gaze on male bodies inside institutions. In conversation with Julie Dash’s Illusions, Kathleen Collins’ Losing Ground, Mary Harron’s American Psycho and Claire Denis’ Beau Travail.
“When the rich wage war, it is the poor who die.” Jean-Paul Sartre
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Directed by alika sheyahshe mteuzi
Written by Long You
Produced by Carlotta Summers · Leidan Chen
Associate Producers Zander Cooper · Cody Smith
Director of Photography Jin Wang
Editors Sam Morehouse · Anmol Bajpai
Production Designer Lena McKnight
First Assistant Director KJ Washington
Sound Jiaqi (Kayla) Sun · Jingcheng (Ethan) Qiu
Composer Adanze Hill
Graphic Design Samy YoungFaculty: Scott Kroopf (Producing) · Everett Lewis (Directing) · Christopher Chomyn, ASC (Cinematography) · Nancy Forner (Editing) · Mimi Gramatky (Production Design)
Student Assistant: Gelila Reta -
CTPR 546 Advanced Production, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Fall 2026
Premiere: Eileen Norris Cinema Theatre, December 2026Director’s treatment · Instagram
The Few, The Proud is in no way associated with or endorsed by the United States Marine Corps, the United States Navy, or the Department of Defense.
© 2026 University of Southern California
