The film Casino Nation is a snapshot of a Native American tribe at a crossroads. After having endured a long and bloody struggle over tribal gaming, the Seneca Nation of Indians is now in the casino business. In production now, this film highlights the impact of sudden prosperity on this small sovereign nation that has historically struggled with crushing poverty. Will the distinctive culture and identity of these native people be able to withstand the onslaught of American culture’s promise of big and easy money? And will the tribe be able to heal the deep rifts created by conflict over casinos? The film explores these and other issues facing the Senecas during this critical time of sweeping change.

Program Website: www.casinonation.net

A feature documentary that explores the Grab Day culture in the villages of Laguna Pueblo, as told by one family as they prepare for the annual event.

This program tells the true-life story of an extraordinary Alaskan woman who becomes an unlikely hero in the fight for civil rights. Elizabeth Peratrovich—a young, unassuming Tlingit Indian mother of three testified before the Alaska State Senate in 1945 and swayed the floor vote with her compelling testimony in favor of the passage of the Anti-Discrimination Bill, the first civil rights bill passed in the United States since the Civil War.

Program Website: www.alaskacivilrights.org

The lives of four Native Alaskan athletes interweave as they travel from their remote villages and tribes throughout the circumpolar north, which still compete to raise their personal abilities in the traditional games of their ancestors. These villages are remote and isolated, and their inhabitants must still maintain balance with the land and sea. As they travel around Alaska and to the traditional coastal communities of Greenland, we see how these games serve to strengthen mind, body and spirit. Dynamic and explosive, these ancestral sports were crucial for surviving the extreme and unforgiving Arctic landscapes. As the Arctic Nations face unprecedented changes, they're as vital today as in their ancient past.

Program Website: www.gamesofthenorth.com

Journey Home is a one-hour documentary that will provide a new perspective about the boarding school experience by revealing reforms in government policies made by those who attended American Indian educational institutions. Thomas Sloan (Omaha) and Henry Roe Cloud (Winnebago) fought for civil rights, proper education and sovereignty.

Mohawk filmmaker Reaghan Tarbell lives in Brooklyn not far from the legendary Mohawk ironworking community that lived in Brooklyn in the mid 1900's.  In parallel stories, she follows the steps of her late grandmother and interviews Mohawk women who helped build Little Caughnawaga.

The Swinomish Tribe is a clamming, crabbing and fishing community that has relied on the natural resources of Skagit Valley for centuries.  In the late 1950's, two oil refineries were built on March Point, eventually effecting the health of the water, land and the very fabric of cultural tradition itself.

Program Website: www.swinomish.org/departments/native_lens

NATIVE CENTURY
Producers: Leslie Clark, Brian Wescott (Athabascan/Yup'ik) and Roberta Grossman

Native Americans return from WWI to pursue freedom at home. Will Rogers finds stardom, Osages strike oil, Indians meet tourism and tribes create new governments, then another generation fights for the U.S. in WWII. NAPT funding will support scripting for episode two of the four-part series.

In the 1920's the Osage were the wealthiest people in the world and there were plenty of people who wanted "their share". The Osage Murders is the story of an Osage family whose oil fortune was coveted by a local rancher and the plan he conceived to obtain it.

Jack Kohler journeys through California's Klamath River Basin, which is in crisis over wild salmon and scarce water. River flow management that benefits utility companies, farmers and ranchers along the Klamath River has brought this vital eco-system to near collapse, endangering several species of wild salmon. Kohler travels through the country of his ancestors where he witnesses the contentious quest for balance between economics, environment, and sustaining the spiritual center of the Basin's Native inhabitants.

Program Website: www.terrapinpictures.com/klamath/story.html

The history of lacrosse in North America is a rich and multi-layered one. Much more than a Native American ball and stick game, lacrosse is a cultural window into Native American communities and their historical relationship with each other and the dominant culture. Our goal is to develop a documentary that looks at the culture, history and resurfacing of lacrosse as it relates to Natives and Non-Natives.

Check out Patty Loew's Producer Profile

Check out Michelle Danforth's Producer Profile

Waila, the contemporary dance music of southern Arizona’s tribal communities, is often called “chicken scratch.” Played at tribal functions, this fun, lively music offers relief from the hardships of reservation life. This program, which tells the story through the Joaquin family’s three generations of Waila musicians, explores the relationship the music has on contemporary native family, community, and culture.

Program Website: www.hokanmedia.com/films.html

Fifty years ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers systematically dammed and flooded Indian Reservations along the Upper Missouri River, severing the crucial ties between land and community to Indian identity. Filmmaker J. Carlos Peinado returns to his homeland hoping to reestablish a connection to this place where his grandmother once lived.

Program Website: www.waterbuster.org

This five-part series produced for American Experience will explore several key themes, including Native survival strategies, mutual perceptions of Indians and Whites, the diversity of Native opinions and perceptions, and the placement of Native American history in the larger historical context.

Check out the producer profiles of two of the producers who have worked on this project: Julianna Brannum and Dustinn Craig

Program Website: www.pbs.org/weshallremain