Stream now with the PBS app and YouTube
The first of its kind, LEGACY OF THE LAND is a collection of six short documentaries covering climate change in Native American communities. Each story is produced by a separate indigenous filmmaker making the series as dynamic and distinct as Native American communities themselves. From Alaska to Arizona, audiences witness the knowledge, tradition and innovation of people living on the front lines of our changing climate.
THE FILMS:
"Sands of Time" - Anna Hoover (Bristol Bay, Alaska) - In an observational survey, this short documentary presents the realities of coastal erosion by witnessing the experience of Bristol Bay community members. Interviews, local archives and ancestral knowledge put the circumstances in stark relief as we detail the communities' adjustments to the retreating coastline.
"Keepers of the Coastline – California’s Indigenous Marine Stewards" - Jeremy Charles (Smith River, California) - In 2023, the Tolowa Dee-ni' people alongside partnering tribes asserted sovereignty over the 700 square miles of their ancestral fisheries. Now in 2024, we see how marine science and resource management can be guided by community and culture.
"Tides of Tradition": Kanesia McGlashan-Price (Unalaska, Alaska) - Communities like the Unangax̂ rely on traditional foodways in lieu of customary, expensive grocery suppliers. Following the journey of a local subsistence hunter, we learn the realities of food access in the changing Arctic and the values that inform their harvest.
" Standing the Heat": Steven Tallas (Navajo Nation) - In a journey of reconnection, filmmaker Steven Tallas explores the hogan — a small, unassuming traditional structure found across the Navajo Nation. Remaining cool in the summers and warm in the winters, this short film revisits the hogan amidst a warming American southwest.
"Megadroughts and Indigenous Voices" - Natives Outdoors (Colorado Plateau) - The Southwestern United States is experiencing a megadrought, but this isn't the first time people have survived one in the region. By highlighting ideas and practices from Navajo tradition, the story recenters our relationship to water.
"Harvesting the Future" - Wenona Benally & Sal Baldenegro (Tucson, Arizona) - Agriculture can thrive in the desert. The Tohono O’odham people have used Ak Chin farming, a form of dry farming, to grow crops for thousands of years. In this short documentary, cultural experts demonstrate these traditional practices as well as implementations for future community planning.
LEGACY OF THE LAND is the digital series portion of NOVA’s special presentation, "Sea Change."
