|
|
|
|
Crying Earth Rise Up
|
Filmmaker Name:
|
Suree Towfighnia
|
|
Film Length:
|
57 min
|
|
Film Year:
|
2015
|
|
Duration:
|
46-75 min
|
|
Decade:
|
2010s
|
|
Language:
|
in English
|
|
Subtitle Language:
|
Spanish subtitles
|
|
Color:
|
color
|
|
Closed-captioned:
|
closed-captioned
|
|
Region:
|
North America
|
|
Crying Earth Rise Up tells the story of Debra White Plume and Elisha Yellow Thunder’s parallel search for answers to the question: Why are there high levels of radiation in our drinking water and how can we protect our families and community against this threat?
White Plume, a Lakota elder, views nearby uranium mining operations as one source of water contamination and as an encroachment on the water rights of the Lakota Nation. She takes action as the lead plaintiff in a case challenging uranium mining on tribal land, and as an organizer working to motivate her community to protect treaty territory from exploitation of their natural resources by corporate interests.
Yellow Thunder seeks answers in the earth itself. During her pregnancy, she unknowingly drank contaminated water and her daughter, Laila, was born with severe medical anomalies. Laila and family await a kidney transplant. When Yellow Thunder can take time away from caring for Laila, she maps ore outcroppings on the Pine Ridge Reservation in search of uranium and the origins of the contamination.
Meanwhile, community members from the mining town of Crawford, NE, Lakota health and environmental agencies, an organic rancher and project manager of a proposed uranium mine, lawyers involved in White Plume’s case, natural resources officials, a nuclear energy expert, farmers and ranchers, all grapple with the prospect of license renewal at the Crow Butte mine in Nebraska and the proposed expansion of mining operations to three additional mines in northwest Nebraska and western South Dakota.
Observational footage, ruggedly beautiful Great Plains vistas, sit-down interviews, illustrations, and animated graphics combine to address the controversy surrounding the existing and proposed uranium mining operations over the High Plains/Ogallala aquifer. Native actress Tantoo Cardinal narrates the film, supporting its structure, ensuring clarity and acting as a reliable guide for the audience through the story.
The film addresses the direct relationship between water and life itself, and the tragic irony that what is sacred may also be poisoning, even as nuclear power companies insist on the environmental safety of their industry’s practices and townspeople point to the mine’s essential role in fueling the local economy. Through characters who oppose and support the expansion of uranium mining over the High Plains/Ogallala aquifer (the largest fresh water underground source in North America), audiences engage with the important and timely issue of preserving and protecting the land and water.
Native communities are commonly involved in debates about land use and environmental stewardship, particularly in the west, because of the historical exploitation of natural resources found on treaty land, Native religious beliefs that bind the people to nature, the Native philosophy of “seven generations” that mirrors the concept of sustainable ecological practices, etc. Crying Earth Rise Up acknowledges the centrality of Native involvement in opposing the particular practice of uranium mining and suggests Native communities’ wider spread contribution to a variety of other conversations related to environmental protection (although not always noted by mainstream media, e.g. the recent blocking of the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline).
SELECTED AWRDS AND SCREENINGS
Winner, John Michaels Award, Big Muddy Film Festival, 2015
Athens International Film Festival, 2015
Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival, 2015
Portland Oregon Women's Film Festival, 2016
One Earth Film Festival, 2017
SCREENINGS & AWARDS
Sedona International Film Festival
Red Nations Film
Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival
American Indian Film Festival
The Tulsa American Film Festival
Uranium Film Festival
University of Louisville Native American Film Festival
Tribal Film Festival
Numbi Fest
Think Outside the Mine Film Festival
REEL Earth Film Festival
EcoFilm Festival
Athens International Film Festival
Byron Bay International Film Festival
Native Women in Film and Television Festival
Big Muddy Film Festival
Frozen River Film Festival
Show Me Justice Film Festival
Colorado Film Festival
Native American Indian Film Festival of the Southeast
Emerald Earth Film Festival
Uranium Film Festival
BROADCASTS
National Broadcasts, PBS, 2015
CREDITS
Director/Producer
Suree Towfighnia
Producer
Courtney Hermann
Consulting Producer
Debra White Plume
Editor
Sharon Karp
Director of Photography
Suree Towfighnia
Additional Camera
Jessica Hoffman, Bryan Litt, Becky McMillen, Ines Sommer
Sound Recordist
Reuben Cruz
Additional Producer
Beth Sternheimer
Associate Producers
Amber Mohammad, Cari Smith, Jessica Tevaga
Field Producer
Bryan Litt
Writers
Reuben Cruz, Suree Towfighnia
Production Assistants
Rayette Camp, Vic Camp, Jeremy Pettigrew, Rosebud White Plume
Post Production Facilities
Media Monster Chicago
Sound Mixing
Another Country
Drew Weir, Re-Recording Mixer; Alison Ho, Assistant SFX Editors; Mike Regan, Assistant SFX Editors; Tim Konn, Audio Post Production Supervisor
Additional Editors
Kerribeth Elliott, Jessica Hoffman, Suree Towfighnia
Assistant Editors
Reuben Cruz, Bridget Rutherford
Additional Footage Provided By
Mike Galanda, 350.org, Waves for Water
Interns
Laura Aimone, Jose Medina, Joseph Kowalski, Alex Roberts, Kathryn Robinson, Matt Sezer, Cari Smith
Animators
Aaron Bowers, Kaci Smith
News Montage
Evan Smith
Artists and Graphic Designers
Nicole Ferentz, Lance Martin, La Muñeca
The Lakota Media Project
Roslyn (Sugar) Bear Runner, Brooklyn Camp, Mary Camp, Miranda Dick, Frankki Martin, Darci Phillips, Justine White Hawk, Rosebud White Plume
Still Photographers
Reuben Cruz, Kent Lebsock, Jeremy Pettigrew
Website Design / Master
Prairie Dust Films
Legal Services
Vanessa Bachtell, Esquire
Consultants
Penny Costello, Winona LaDuke, Dr. Hannan LaGarry
Fiscal Agent
Documentary Educational Resources
Kickstarter Producers
Paris and Antonio Buchanan, Marion Krott, Jim Perkins, Joyce and Eddie Towfighnia
MUSIC
"NDN R.A.P. Redux" courtesy of che christ, www.chechrist.com
“Highway 18 Song” courtesy of Crazy Horse Singers
Selected Tracks composed by Sharon Karp
"Rise" and "Sunflower" written and performed by Bill MacKay
Publishing under William Dwight MacKay via ASCAP/ Son of Fire Recordings, copyright 2014), Courtesy of Son of Fire, www.billmackay.com
Selected Tracks by Matou
(Courtesy of Tiokasin Ghosthorse)
"Water Drum Song" performed by Oyuh'pa Singers
"Creation Song" and "Sacred Water Song" performed by Autumn Two Bull
MUSIC COURTESY OF FIRSTCOM
"Uncertainty" and "Breath Again" composed by Jonathan Elias [ASCAP] and Sarah Trevino [ASCAP], published by ZFC Music ASCAP,
Perfect Moment Music ASCAP
"Distant Lands" composed by Ben Niblett [PRS] and Jon Cotton [PRS],
published by Chappell Recorded Music Library Ltd PRS
"Practical Thinking" composed by Jonathan Elias [ASCAP] and Mike Fraumeni [ASCAP], published by AFC Music ASCAP, Perfect Moment Music ASCAP
"Lakota Land" composed by Matt Hirt [BMI],
published by Revision West BMI
Special Thanks
The Yellow Thunder Family, The Pettigrew Family, The White Plume Tiospaye, Paul Anthony, Rudy Avina, The Bean Broker in Chadron, NE,
Black Hills Treaty Council, Chicago Filmmakers, Chicago Filmworks, James Foley, The Gomez Hotline, Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance, KILI Radio, Angela Koenig, Georgiana Lee, Todd Lillethun, Debra Michaud
Ian Miller, Jim Morrisette, The Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha
NEIS/ David Kraft, Niles North High School, WHO Club at Niles North
Brenda Norrell / Censored News, Oglala Lakota College, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Russell Porter, Michael Rabiger, Street Level Youth Media, South Dakota State University, Brookings, Town of Crawford, NE, Utah Tar Sands, Facebook and Twitter Friends, All our Allies on the Frontlines Protecting Sacred Water
Statistical References
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board
The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, The South Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, The National Archives, Hot Springs County Commisioners, National Resource Defence Council, The Environmental Protection Agency, Cameco, Inc., Powertech USA, Dr. Hannan LaGarry
Executive Producer for Vision Maker Media
Shirley K. Sneve
|
|
|
The
Shopping Cart
is currently empty
|