Standing on Sacred Ground: Pilgrims & Tourists

Toby McLeod and Chief Caleen Sisk

Event Details

  • Date: –
  • Venue: Dance Palace
    503 B Street, Point Reyes Station, CA, 94956, United States
  • Venue: Dance Palace
  • Cost: $20-$30 sliding scale; Free for students

~Co-sponsored by 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.

Feb 23 at 7pm - Part 1: Pilgrims & Tourists with 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

Toby McLeod

Toby McLeod has been Project Director of Earth Island Institute’s Sacred Land Film Project since 1984. In 2013, he completed the four-part series Standing on Sacred Ground, which premiered on public television in April 2015. Previously, Toby produced and directed In the Light of Reverence (2001) and made three other award-winning, documentary films that were broadcast on national television: The Four Corners: A National Sacrifice Area? (1983), Downwind/Downstream (1988), and NOVA: Poison in the Rockies (1990). Toby has a master’s degree in journalism from U.C. Berkeley and a B.A. in American History from Yale. He is a journalist who works in film, video, print and still photography.

Caleen Sisk

Caleen Sisk is the Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, who practice their traditional culture and ceremonies in their territory along the McCloud River watershed in Northern California. Since assuming leadership responsibilities in 2000, Caleen has focused on maintaining the cultural and religious traditions of the tribe. She advocates for California salmon restoration, healthy, undammed watersheds, and the human right to water. She has received international honors as a tireless sacred site protector, and currently leads the tribe’s resistance against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s proposal to raise Shasta Dam 18.5-feet, which would inundate or damage more than 40 sacred sites.

Geography of Hope

In 2019, Geography of Hope is expanding from a one-weekend event to a year-long series of gatherings, pilgrimages, film screenings, conversations and art exhibits that explore the theme of “The Sacred in the Land.”

More Upcoming Offerings

Mar 1

The Sacred Work of Grief Community Grief Ritual with Francis Weller

Mar 16

Geography of Hope: Pilgrimage Redefined Kate Bunney, Gigi Coyle, John Francis, Desirae Harp, Michael Preston & Weston Pew

Mar 21

Full Moon Fire Circle at Commonweal Garden in Bolinas

Mar 31

Sacred in the Land: Seasonal Pilgrimages Kate Bunney and Walking Water Team

Apr 13

Our Common Home Summit: Spiritual Ecology in Education and Action Joanna Macy, Corrina Gould and Spiritual Ecology Leaders

Apr 19

Full Moon Fire Circle at Commonweal Garden in Bolinas

May 7

Barry Lopez Author of Horizon

May 18

Full Moon Fire Circle at Commonweal Garden in Bolinas

May 19

Standing on Sacred Ground: Profit & Loss Toby McLeod & Melissa Nelson

Jun 17

Full Moon Fire Circle at Commonweal Garden in Bolinas

Jun 23

Sacred in the Land: Seasonal Pilgrimages Kate Bunney and Walking Water Team

Jul 16

Full Moon Fire Circle at Commonweal Garden in Bolinas

Sep 8

Standing on Sacred Ground: Fire & Ice Toby McLeod & Corrina Gould

Sep 29

Sacred in the Land: Seasonal Pilgrimages Kate Bunney and Walking Water Team

Dec 15

Sacred in the Land: Seasonal Pilgrimages Kate Bunney and Walking Water Team