Documentaries Click image to view film, quotes, & ordering info
Eating Alaska is a serious and humorous film about connecting to where you live and eating locally. Made by a former city dweller now living on an island in Alaska and married to fisherman, deer hunter and environmental activist, it is a journey into food politics, regional food traditions, our connection to the wilderness and to what we put into our mouths. Link will open the Eating Alaska website.
An intimate portrait of teenagers trying to understand their world and their possibilities, shot by them and the filmmaker as they work to create expressive outlets for youth in Sitka. They organize dances, plan events, paint a mural...at the same time, with humor and pathos, kids talk about violence, feeling misunderstood, and lacking respect in their community.
Stan Marsden, a Tsimshian wood carver, loses his son to a cocaine overdose. Grieving, he decides to create a totem pole in his son's memory and invites the town of Craig, Alaska, to help. The project grows and becomes a communal effort bringing the town together both Native and non-Native, young and old.
In this story of tradition and change, folks talk about the challenges of balancing their lives in two cultures. A young drummer/dancer guides tourists through a museum, a silversmith/dj talks about his love both of rock & roll and traditional carving, and a Tlingit elder teaches children at a summer fish camp.
Manuela and Ben Aparicio, sister and brother, brought by their parents in search of a better future, arrived in the United States from a rural village in Mexico to an ethnically divided community in California. Twenty years later, they share their stories and determination to succeed. (Spanish version available.)
These documentaries about communitiy and identity are recommended for individuals or organizations, including schools and universities, community groups, tribal agencies, mental health and counseling organizations, suicide prevention and substance abuse programs, hospices, religious organizations, and public libraries.