Sacred Land Film Project

09/04/2026

July 4th was recently celebrated in the US, but there's a lot in our history to remember around this holiday.

Corrina Gould (Lisjan Ohlone) reminds us that at the same time Thomas Jefferson was declaring independence, newcomers to Ohlone territory were enslaving her ancestors in the mission system.

Corrina joined the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity for a prayer ceremony at the West Berkeley Shellmound on July 4th in 2019. This important sacred place is threatened by a five-story retail and condominium project proposed on the site of the first Ohlone village on San Francisco Bay, which was inhabited by Corrina’s people for 3,900 years—and declared a historic landmark by the city of Berkeley in 2003.

➡ Watch the entire video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yf2rO0PezM

09/03/2026

Reposted The Wilderness Society

Public lands are an American inheritance, not a shortcut to drilling.
High Country News is reporting that the Bureau of Land Management is proposing to allow winter oil and gas exploration in America’s Western Arctic without environmental review and public input for massive industrial activities that deserve public scrutiny.

Protecting public lands means safeguarding clean air and water, wildlife habitat and the wild character of these places, while preserving our freedom to experience them and pass them on intact to future generations.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4wU5LBN

09/02/2026

Calling our Berkeley community! Join us on September 16th at the David Brower Center to watch the Oscar-nominated documentary Sugarcane Film! The film is the second screening of our Native Voice Film Series. 🎥

There will be a Q&A discussion with the director Julian Brave NoiseCat (Secwepe) and California Institute for Community, Art & Nature's Executive Director Claire Greensfelder.

🎟 Get tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/screening-of-sugarcane-with-director-julian-brave-noisecat-tickets-1993055633050?aff=odcleoeventsincollection&fbclid=IwY2xjawT-8FNwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMWZFckJEREk1RE14aG1GNWNzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeHM70dqEiVXiUXIN9CDODx4DAmqQdBCm2rcOXM6NsxQtEHV1DjSiw4fQs_zM_aem_mjexhDvMjbpYSwEGZupSCQ

Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer, filmmaker, champion powwow dancer, and student of Salish art and history. He is the first Indigenous North American filmmaker ever nominated for an Academy Award. His debut book, "We Survived the Night," portrays Indigenous life beginning with the familial and expanding outwards through a contemporary retelling of the Coyote epic. After the film screening, he will be available to sign copies of his memoir. 📖

"Sugarcane" is an epic cinematic portrait of a community during a moment of international reckoning. Set amidst a ground-breaking investigation into abuse and death at an Indian residential school, the film empowers participants to break cycles of intergenerational trauma by bearing witness to painful, long-ignored truths – and the love that endures within their families despite the revelation of genocide.

The NY Times described the film as "Immersive and incredibly beautiful, shot like poetry and scored by Mali Obomsawin. The result is both stunning and sobering."
"Sugarcane" premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where NoiseCat and Kassie won the Directing Award in the U.S. Documentary Competition. 🏆

09/01/2026

In great news: Great Sioux Nation's fight to protect Pe’ Sla, a sacred prairie in South Dakota’s Black Hills, has resulted in a victory! 👏

Members of the Great Sioux Nation and allies came together this spring to stop exploratory drilling for graphite on land that has been a place of ceremony, food and medicine for generations. After their fight, a federal judge halted the project, and days later, the mining company withdrew its plans.

Read more about it here. 👇

At the sacred prairie of Pe’ Sla in South Dakota, Indigenous and environmental groups banded together to halt drilling

08/31/2026

During the COVID pandemic, our director, Toby McLeod, talked with Cimpatico TV Host Mike DiGirolamo about what it means to be an ally to Indigenous communities as he helps tell their stories through documentary filmmaking. 🎥

➡To watch the full interview, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLOX-zRda6g

08/28/2026

During the COVID pandemic, our director, Toby McLeod, talked with Cimpatico TV Host Mike DiGirolamo about his journey into documentary filmmaking to help share Indigenous Peoples' stories about their battles to protect sacred sites, their campaigns to achieve environmental justice, and their spiritual views of nature and land. 🌎

➡To watch the full interview, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLOX-zRda6g

08/27/2026

Ohlone leader Corrina Gould talked about how people came together to protect the West Berkeley Shellmound during our Q&A discussion after the screening of our award-winning documentary, "In the Light of Reverence," on August 14.

🎥 The screening was the opening of our three-film Native Voices Film Series to be followed by "Sugarcane" on September 16 with Julian Brave NoiseCat, and "The Eternal Song" on October 26 with Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.

🎟 Get tickets to check out our next two screenings: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/native-voices-film-series-4854474?

08/26/2026

What does it mean to be a good ally to Indigenous Peoples? 🤝🏿

Ohlone leader Corrina Gould talked about what it really means to show up as an ally to Indigenous communities and help them protect their sacred sites during the Q&A with filmmaker Toby McLeod, following the 25th anniversary screening of our award-winning documentary, "In the Light of Reverence" (August 14 at the David Brower Center in Berkeley).

🎥 The screening was the opening of our three-film Native Voices Film Series to be followed by "Sugarcane" on September 16 with Julian Brave NoiseCat, and "The Eternal Song" on October 26 with Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.

🎟 Get tickets to check out our next two screenings: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/native-voices-film-series-4854474?

08/25/2026

Reposted NDNCollective

COMMENT TO PROTECT MATO TIPILA (BEAR LODGE)

Mining Project: Bear Lodge Rare Earth Project
🗓️Deadline: August 28th, 11:59 pm MST
✍🏽Submit a Comment: https://ndnco.cc/protectbearlodge

Relatives, the time has come again, and we need your support to protect sacred Mato Tipila. Rare Element Resources Inc. wants to build a 100+ acre open pit mine in the forest near Mato Tipila in Bull Hill, WY.

Facts About the Project:
💡This is a Fast 41 project, meaning that this permitting process could be expedited up to 18 months sooner.
💡It directly impacts local air quality, cultural & sacred sites, wildlife species and habitats, and local water resources.
💡It has the potential to expose people to radioactive or hazardous elements.
💡It will desecrate the land on this sacred site.

Oppose the project and submit your public comment today!

📸 credit: Angel White Eyes

08/25/2026

Fundamentalist Protestants disrupted the closing ceremonies of the Mascal Ceremony in Ethiopia's Gamo Highlands, leading to a riot, while we were filming Standing on Sacred Ground in 2008.

This is one case of many where Indigenous Peoples face conflict when practicing their traditional spiritual practices.

➡You can watch the full clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wABUTIGpOqE

🎥 Learn more about protecting Indigenous rights and sacred land by subscribing to our YouTube channel.