Purchase DVDs for Libraries

Purchase “Who Are My People?” and other Award Winning Feature Documentaries on Native American Culture and the Environment.

To purchase or rent individual films below, or if you have questions or special requests, email robert@studio-rla.com, or call – 415.205.3481.




Who Are My People? When Green is Not Sustainable

“Who Are My People?” is a 1 x 60 (1 hour) documentary film on the current and controversial topic of the build out of large scale renewable energy in the deserts of the West. Reviews and press.

Join film Maker Robert Lundahl as he recalls his early trips to the desert as a child. One such memory helps pave the way to think of the desert the way he does, as a “oasis surrounded by a battleground.” It’s where the push for renewable energy threatens to wipe out Native American sacred sites that are thousands of years old. The LA Times indicates, we are at a “Flashpoint” between competing value-systems. Bodies have been exhumed, and the area is a long-term indigenous landscape.

“Who Are My People?” depicts how multinational energy firms have met their match in a small group of Native American elders, and how this controversy continues to boil over in the hottest desert on the planet. Never before seen aerial footage of ancient geoglyphs along the Colorado River. With Sr. Alfredo Figueroa (Yaqui/Chemehuevi), Reverend Ron Van Fleet (Mojave Hereditary Chief), Phil Smith (Chemehuevi), and Preston Arrow-Weed (Quechan/Kumeyaay).

NATIVE AMERICANS–ENVIRONMENT/ECOLOGY–HISTORY-SCIENCE/RENEWABLE ENERGY–ANTHROPOLOGY/ETHNOGRAPHY–RELIGION.




Song on the Water: The Return of the Great Canoes

Robert Lundahl’s award winning documentary, “Song on the Water”, 1 x 60 (1 hour length), takes viewers along with 50 indigenous canoes, their crews, and communities on a modern-day voyage to a traditional potlatch.

In the 1960’s Native Americans in the state of Washington were forbidden from fishing in their traditional areas, off the reservations. In what became know as the “Fish Wars,” tribal fishermen were harassed and sometimes beaten by State Police. When the Boalt Decision passed in the U.S. federal courts in 1976, the federal government guaranteed the rights to fish in “usual and accustomed grounds.” But the state often denied access. Finally in a compromise, the state agreed to allow tribes to access traditional fishing grounds if they demonstrated they could access them by traditional means, ocean going canoes.

Filled with beautiful photography and inspiring Coast Salish and Nuu Chah Nulth songs and cultural expressions, the one-hour film explores what the voyage means to the “pullers,” ground crews, and elders who share the waves, the traditions, and a vision of a positive future for Coast Salish youth.
 




Unconquering the Last Frontier: The Epic Story of the Damming and Undamming of the Elwha River

Narrated by Gary Farmer and filmed in Washington State, this 101 minute feature documentary explores the causes and effects of the ongoing salmon crisis in the Pacific Northwest, focusing on the Elwha River. It’s an unvarnished portrait of the remote, rural West, examining the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe’s attempt to survive in the shadow of hydropower development.

95% of remaining energy resources in the United States are on Indian land. “Unconquering the Last Frontier” demonstrates how one such project, from the early years of the 20th Century, severely impacted Native American culture and traditional practices for over 100 years. Finally, in 2012, two industrial power dams, which had blocked the salmon runs on which the tribe depends, were removed in the largest dam removal and ecosystem restoration project in the United States. With Klallam elders Bosco Charles, Bea Charles, Adeline Smith.
 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *