Native American Documentaries
Water Ceremony against leachate pollution of Penobscot River

Water Ceremony against leachate pollution of Penobscot River

The Penobscot River is being polluted by the state owned, privately run Juniper Ridge Landfill. Landfill leachate is a waste by product created when rainwater filters down through layers of solid waste in a landfill, collecting a toxic cocktail of chemicals along the way. The leachate is then trucked to the Nine Dragon’s Paper mill wastewater treatment plant in Old Town, “processed” and dumped in the Penobscot River.

Penobscot River Rights Case Summary

Penobscot River Rights Case Summary

This video summarizes the most recent attempt by the state of Maine to formally put an end to the subsistence rights of the Penobscot Nation within the Penobscot River. To learn more and watch the full length documentary, visit SunlightMediaCollective.org.

Penobscot – A Fight for Ancestral Waters

Penobscot – A Fight for Ancestral Waters

This short film highlights the alarming territorial theft attempt faced today by the Penobscot Indian Nation. In December of 2015, a U.S. District Court Judge decided on the highly controversial and historic case, Penobscot Nation v Janet Mills, Attorney General for the State of Maine. The Judge re-affirmed the Tribe's treaty-reserved sustance fishing rights, but ruled in favor of the State of Maine’s opinion that the water of the Penobscot River, which flows through Penobscot Nation Tribal...

Juniper Ridge Landfill Megadump

Juniper Ridge Landfill Megadump

The Maine Board Of Environmental Protection (BEP) is currently considering changes to Maine's waste policy that would change the definition of Maine generated waste in order to control the disposal of out-of-state waste in Maine’s publicly-owned landfills, and require the consideration of environmental justice and equal protection when expanding or siting waste facilities in Maine.

ND Paper Discharge

ND Paper Discharge

Each year over 200,000 tons of out-of-state waste is disposed of at Juniper Ridge Landfill, a publicly owned, privately run landfill in Maine. The waste used to construct it is toxic enough to have been banned from disposal in all 5 other Northeastern states. An annual average 10 million gallons of leachate from Juniper Ridge Landfill is received by the Nine Dragons Paper Old Town Mill facility, which holds the discharge permit that allows for the release of landfill leachate into the...

THE PENOBSCOT – Ancestral River – Contested Territory

THE PENOBSCOT – Ancestral River – Contested Territory

THE PENOBSCOT: Ancestral River, Contested Territory traverses the landscape of deal-making and deal-breaking that has largely defined tribal-state relations in Maine. From the 1700's to the present-day, the film emphasizes the Penobscot people’s centuries-long tradition of environmental stewardship, and outlines the current legal battle, PENOBSCOT NATION v. MILLS, which is a move to preserve Penobscot territory and maintain the inherent, treaty-reserved sustenance fishing rights of the...

First Encounter

First Encounter

First Encounter explores the actions taken by Chickasaws in 1540 during their first contact with Europeans. The documentary highlights the encounters, struggles and perseverance of the Chickasaw people throughout Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto’s attempted conquest. It was the first European contact for the Chickasaw, but perhaps the most important and set the standard by which the tribe remained for centuries and remains today - “unconquered and unconquerable.”

Pearl

Pearl

Set in 1920s rural Oklahoma, Pearl is based on the remarkable true story of Chickasaw aviatrix, Pearl Carter Scott –the youngest licensed pilot in American history. Mentored by world-renowned aviator Wiley Post, Pearl first pilots a plane at the age of 12 and becomes a commercial pilot and local celebrity before she reaches adulthood. As she finds love and becomes a wife and mother, her two greatest passions collide.

Bearer of the Morning- The Life of Te Ata Thompson Fisher 12-03-20

Bearer of the Morning- The Life of Te Ata Thompson Fisher 12-03-20

Mary Frances “Te Ata” Thompson was born and raised in the Chickasaw Nation, where her family settled following the removal of Chickasaw People from their original tribal homelands of Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky. In this one-hour documentary, discover how this dynamic Chickasaw woman successfully navigated the social, geographic and cultural distances to become one of the most successful Native American performers in history.