~Co-presented with Sacred Land Film Project~
Indigenous communities around the world and in the U.S. are resisting threats to their sacred places—the original protected lands—in a growing movement to defend human rights and restore the environment.
Standing on Sacred Ground is a four-part documentary series where native people share ecological wisdom and spiritual reverence while battling government mega-projects, consumer culture, and resource extraction as well as competing religions and climate change. This series exposes threats to native peoples’ health, livelihood, and cultural survival in eight communities around the world. Rare verité scenes of tribal life allow indigenous people to tell their own stories—and confront us with the ethical consequences of our culture of consumption.
From Ethiopia to Peru, indigenous customs protect biodiversity on sacred lands under pressure from religious conflicts and climate change. In the Gamo Highlands of Ethiopia, scientists confirm the benefits of traditional stewardship even as elders witness the decline of spiritual practices that have long protected trees, meadows and mountains. Tensions with evangelical Christians over a sacred meadow erupt into a riot. In the Peruvian Andes, the Q’eros, on a pilgrimage to a revered glacier, are driven from their ritual site by intolerant Catholics. Q’eros potato farmers face a more ominous foe: global warming is melting glaciers, their water source. Andes farmers, scientists and visiting Ethiopians struggle to adapt indigenous agriculture to the changing climate.
Feb 23 at 7pm - Part 1: Pilgrims & Tourists with Chief Caleen Sisk
May 19 at 2pm - Part 2: Profit & Loss with Melissa Nelson
Sept 8 at 2pm - Part 3: Fire & Ice with Corrina Gould
Nov 16 at 7pm - Part 4: Islands of Sanctuary with Kailea Frederick
