Films to Watch in November on PBS
Just in time for Native American Heritage Month in November, Vision Maker Media presents five new films that celebrate the accomplishments of Native peoples in the areas of medicine, math and energy empowerment. The films provide historical context as well as modern insight on key issues affecting Native Americans. Two of the films shed light on the treatment of Native remains and how climate change is affecting Native residents on a fragile barrier island in the Arctic.
ISHI'S RETURN is about Ishi, billed in 1911 as the "last wild Indian" when he wandered out of the woods in Oroville, California, and became a national sensation. When Ishi died, his brain was removed and sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Eighty years later, his descendants in California fought to have his remains repatriated to his ancestral home. (Distributed by NETA) Ishi's Return Producer: Katahdin Productions
MEDICINE WOMAN introduces the first Native American doctor and the courageous women who follow in her footsteps. Susan La Flesche Picotte was America's first Native doctor, breaking barriers of race and gender to heal her traumatized people. A century later, Native women from many tribes follow in her footsteps. What have they learned about new ways of healing that can help us all? (Distributed by PBS Plus) Medicine Woman Producer: NET Television
Can energy development on tribal lands empower a people while powering the nation? And what impact will it have on their culture, economy and the environment? RED POWER ENERGY combines engaging storytelling with in-depth journalism, and features a nearly all-Native film crew and Advisory Council representing Western and Great Plains American Indian tribes in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. (Distributed by APT) Red Power Energy Producer: Rocky Mountain PBS
NAVAJO MATH CIRCLES follows Navajo students in a lively collaboration with mathematicians. Using a model called math circles, the students stay late after school and assemble over the summer at Diné College in Tsaile, Arizona, to study mathematics. The math circles approach emphasizes student-centered learning by putting children in charge of exploring mathematics to their own joy and satisfaction. (Distributed by PBS Plus) Navajo Math Circles Producer: Zala Films, George Csicsery
The tiny town of KIVALINA lies on a fragile barrier island along the Chukchi Sea, 83 miles above the Arctic Circle. With changes in climate, less ice remains to protect the island from strong ocean waves, making it too dangerous for residents to remain. Now, the town, the state of Alaska, and the nation must consider whether to move the people of Kivalina to a safer location nearby, either inland or further down the coast, at a cost of $100 million. This film provides an intimate and unique look into the public and private lives of one of America's last Indigenous cultures trying to survive in the modern Arctic, where struggles of poverty, climate change and culture are inextricably intertwined. Kivalina Producer: Savor Terra Films
– About Vision Maker Media: Vision Maker Media is celebrating 40 years as your premier source for quality American Indian and Alaska Native educational and home videos. All aspects of our programs encourage the involvement of young people to learn more about careers in the media--to be the next generation of storytellers. Vision Maker Media envisions a world changed and healed by understanding Native stories and the public conversations they generate.
With funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), 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. Vision Maker Media, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) empowers and engages Native People to tell stories. For more information, www.visionmakermedia.org
– About NETA: The National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) is a professional association that serves Public Television licensees and educational entities in all 50 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Since 1967, our reason for existing is to connect Public Television people and ideas by providing quality programming, educational resources, professional development, management support, and national representation. For more information, www.netaonline.org.
– About PBS Plus: PBS Plus is an optional programming service for public television stations, providing fully underwritten series and specials. Over 99 percent of PBS stations subscribe to this service--reaching 100 percent of national TV households. Annually, stations are provided with approximately 600 hours of programming.
– About APT : American Public Television (APT) has been the leading syndicator of high-quality, top-rated programming to the nation's public television stations since 1961. For more than 10 years, APT has annually distributed one-third or more of the top 100 highest-rated public television titles in the U.S. Among its 250 new program titles per year, APT programs include prominent documentaries, performance, news and current affairs programs, dramas, how-to programs, children's series and classic movies. AfroPoP, America's Test Kitchen From Cook's Illustrated, Rick Steves' Europe, Front and Center, Doc Martin, Nightly Business Report, Midsomer Murders, Vera, NHK Newsline, Lidia's Kitchen, Globe Trekker, Simply Ming, and P. Allen Smith's Garden Home are a sampling of APT's programs, considered some of the most popular on public television. APT licenses programs internationally through its APT Worldwide service. Now in its 11th year, Create® TV -- featuring the best of public television's lifestyle programming--is distributed by American Public Television. APT also distributes WORLD™, public television's premier news, science and documentary channel. To find out more about APT's programs and services, visit APTonline.org.