Detained in Papua New Guinea
The most dramatic scene we filmed in Papua New Guinea involved clan leader Sama Mellombo’s confrontation with a Chinese mining company security team that pulled up as we finished our interview. While…
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POV Streams In the Light of Reverence
We are thrilled to announce that the acclaimed PBS series POV is streaming our 2001 documentary, In the Light of Reverence, from May 7 to August 7. We appreciate POV providing the perfect lead-in to…
Sacred Land Memes
How do we spread the word and create a buzz amidst a flood of social media content? We know that our four-hour series of film stories is pushing everyone’s attention span envelope. So, leading up to…
Hopi and Zuni Visit Bears Ears in Utah
Back in the 1980s, when I was younger—and more limber—I led 20 week-long backpacking trips in the canyon country of southern Utah. In the Cedar Mesa area, south of Canyonlands National Park, every…
Koch Brothers Leased 2 Million Tar Sands Acres
In March 2014 there was a brief media dust-up after the Washington Post reported that the Koch brothers were the largest leaseholders of tar sands acreage, having leased 1.1 million acres. The Post…
Tar Sands Protests Then and Now
I’m headed to Dartmouth at the invitation of old friend Terry Tempest Williams, to show Profit and Loss and Islands of Sanctuary on Wednesday. Terry has hiked the area of eastern Utah where…
Hawai`i’s Legislature Should Fund Commercial Free Kaho`olawe
As our films head for PBS broadcast in places like Honolulu, it is heartening to continue to cultivate the relationships that led to the film stories being told. Collaboration with the Protect Kaho`olawe…
Kaho`olawe’s Legacy—as told by Clifford Nae`ole
Our filming in Hawai`i took us to many special places beyond Kaho`olawe. Listening to stories about the amazing, profound impact that the extended family known as the Protect Kaho`olawe `Ohana had throughout the islands…
Report From Four Corners
In early February, I made a pilgrimage back to the Four Corners area to visit old friends at Zuni and Hopi, to show some films, and to find out about sacred site battles old and new. Tops on everyone’s mind is the proposal to build a resort hotel…
Transcendental Flute Ceremony Reborn in Papua New Guinea
When we filmed the canoe ceremony in Bosmun village on the Ramu River in Papua New Guinea, there was an all night debate about whether we would be allowed to film the transcendental flute players who started playing at midnight heading into the final day of the four-day ceremony.