Native Stories for Public Broadcasting

July 15, 2014.

"Vision Maker Media's Public Media Content Fund awards support to projects with a Native American theme and significant Native involvement that ultimately benefits the entire public media community. Since 1990, filmmakers have been invited to submit proposals in various stages of their film--from research & development, to production, post-production/completion, and outreach. All proposals are reviewed by a group of public television professionals, station programmers, independent filmmakers, educators, and executives from indigenous organizations. "

"The final slate of documentaries represents Native voices and stories from across the United States including California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Montana, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and a couple documentaries will span coast-to-coast. "

Funded projects include:

• Boarding School Stories
• Jonathon Skurnik, New Media
• "an interactive new media website built around videotaped oral histories that will educate users about the history of the American Indian boarding school system--a policy of forced assimilation imposed on more than 100,000 Native American children between 1879 and 1975."
• Lake of Betrayal: The Story of Kinzua Dam
• Paul Lamont, Scott Sackett, Production
• "When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers attempts to take their land to build Kinzua Dam, the Seneca people stand up to the government and prevailing political forces of the 1950s and 60s to save their culture, their sovereignty, and their way of life to preserve their future."
• Our Fires Still Burn
• Audrey Geyer, Acquisition
• "suggests how Native Americans can address the serious economic and social issues that affect them while respecting and understanding their heritage and what was done to them by European settlers and the United States government. The stories shared are fresh, uplifting, powerful, startling, despairing, and inspiring. "
• Medicine Woman
• Princella Parker (Omaha), Christine Lesiak, NET Television Production
• "about healing and identity in the lives of Native women past and present. It weaves together the stories of the first Native American doctor, a woman born seven generations ago, and present-day Native healers."
• Tribal Justice
• Anne Makepeace, Ruth B. Cowan, Production
• "a one-hour documentary about the innovative work of two tribal judges, both remarkable women leaders who are using traditional forms of restorative justice to help heal their communities. "

For more information, visit 

Vision Maker Media's Press Release, here.