NAVAJO CODE TALKERS

A documentary film shows the vital role a small group of Navajo Marines played in the Pacific during World War II. The story is told through 1940s archival footage of Navajo life as well as scenes of World War II. Featured are interviews with Navajo Chairman Peter MacDonald, artist and scholar Carl Gorman, and Taos artist R.C. Gorman. The film received a special Presidential commendation by Ronald Reagan in 1998.

Producer: Tom McCarthy

INJUNUITY

This film is an eye-popping, mind-jolting mix of animation, music and real voices collected from interviews with Native Americans across the country to create a distinct view of modern America from a uniquely contemporary Native American perspective. Every word spoken is verbatim; every thought and opinion is real. Told through nine short films that cover such topics as language preservation, sacred site degradation, consumerism and the environment, Injunuity is a thought-provoking collage of reflections on the Native American world, our shared past, our turbulent present and our undiscovered future.

Producers: Adrian Baker (Hopi) and Manny Lieras

The final decades of the 20th century brought unprecedented changes for American Indians, especially in the areas of human rights and tribal sovereignty. In 1990, after a long struggle between Indian rights groups and the scientific establishment, the Native American Graves Repatriation and Protection Act was passed. For American Indians, this was perhaps the most important piece of civil and human rights legislation of this century. But a case tested these claims, and Who Owns the Past? focuses on the controversy that emerged with the Kennewick Man.

Producer: Jed Riffe