Aboriginal Australians and Native Hawaiians reclaim land from government and military and successfully resist the erosion of culture and environment. The series concludes with the extraordinary story of Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana’s restoration of the Hawaiian island of Kaho‘olawe after 50 years of bomb tests by the US Navy.
From the Gamo Highlands of Ethiopia to the Andes of Peru, indigenous highland communities battle threats to their forests, farms and faith — as evangelical Christians disrupt sacred sites, and glaciers melt away.
From Papua New Guinea to the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, native people fight the loss of their land, water and health to mining and oil industries.
In the Altai Republic of Russia and in northern California, indigenous shamans resist massive government projects that threaten nature and culture. Altaians oppose Gazprom’s natural gas pipeline across the sacred Ukok Plateau and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe fights plans to raise the height of Shasta Dam.
In 1875, biologist Livingstone Stone collected a sampling of belongings — baskets and ceremonial regalia — from the Winnemem Wintu people who lived along the McCloud River, below Mt. Shasta in northern California.
Surrounded by boutique storefronts in the upscale Fourth Street shopping area of Berkeley sits an unassuming 2-acre parking lot. For 5,000 years this was an Ohlone Village Site where two massive shellmounds grew—sites of burial and ceremony.
Sacred Land Film Project Director Toby McLeod participated in this year’s Run4Salmon, a two-week prayerful journey to restore McCloud River salmon runs and protect indigenous lifeways.
As messenger and translator for Hopi elders since 1948, Thomas Banyacya Sr. (1909-1999) traversed the globe trying to help non-Hopi people understand the warnings revealed in the Hopi Prophecy. In November 1995, the Sacred Land Film Project followed Thomas to the Whole Life Expo in Las Vegas where he made two presentations over two days. Here is part 1 of 2.
As messenger and translator for Hopi elders since 1948, Thomas Banyacya, Sr. (1909-1999) traversed the globe trying to help people understand the warnings revealed in the Hopi Prophecy. In November 1995, the Sacred Land Film Project followed Thomas to the Whole Life Expo in Las Vegas where he made two hour-long presentations over two days. Here is Part 2 of 2.
On April 7, 2018, artifacts from the West Berkeley Shellmound and Emeryville Shellmound, some of them thousands of years old, were removed from storage at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum and, for the first time ever, shown to the general public at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive. More than 300 people joined the California Institute for Community Arts and Culture and friends to view these remarkable objects and hear a panel of contemporary Native California artists.