Scha'nexw Elhtal'nexw Salmon People: Preserving a Way of Life

Despite wildfire smoke and a depleting fishery, Lummi families fish for sockeye salmon. The film, which explores the deep spiritual and cultural connection between the Lummi and salmon, lifts values of respect, gratitude and sharing as they are passed onto the next generation. Through the Scha'nexw Elhtal'nexw, the Salmon People, we learn that protecting salmon and this lifeway is a full-time job.

PREMIERING NOVEMBER 4 | LOCAL, USA

Firelighters: Fire is Medicine

For centuries, most landscapes in North America were shaped by fire between lightning strikes and Indigenous burns. Indigenous people had deep knowledge of the art of using fire, and still do today. FIRELIGHTERS follows the work of women leaders from the Yurok and Karuk Tribes who are building resources to share indigenous practices and create policies to take back indigenous burning rights.

PREMIERING NOVEMBER 18 | LOCAL, USA

Returning Home Through Togetherness: Native American Heritage Month Film Collection

In November, WORLD presents films rich with voices from the Indigenous community. With the leadership of our partner Vision Maker Media, we invite you to listen and learn from these Native storytellers.

Home can be a location, culture, community, family or a deep feeling of connection. In our Native cultures, we have faced many atrocities since invasion, which began the loss of everything. Yet today in spirit, beliefs, practices and thoughts, we retain hope that the missing will return home.

Our Native culture, knowledge, gathering, spirit, ceremony, and wisdom helps carry us through the journey, the belief, and the hope of returning home. Our cultural connection to home helps us endure, hope, pray, practice ceremony and believe that the absent one will someday return home. Returning home is not always easy, nor is a return home always met with fanfare. Nonetheless, our connection to home in our Native culture engages our spirit to practice our ceremony, which joins our humanity to the place of belonging that we call home.

In our programs, we share stories about warriors, boarding school children, loss and death. As warriors, the fight to safeguard and return home keeps us persevering. For the missing and departed, we pray for their return. Home is in our spirit and returning home through togetherness remains the hope.


– Francene Blythe-Lewis, Executive Director of Vision Maker Media

Watch, share and join in the conversation about #ReturningHome.


RETURNING HOME THROUGH TOGETHERNESS: HEALING FROM HISTORICAL TRAUMA
Join WORLD Channel and Vision Maker Media for a panel commemorating Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month by exploring the effects of historical trauma from boarding schools, adoption and repatriation. Journalist and media critic Jenni Monet (Laguna Pueblo) will moderate conversations between Sandy White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota), Anitra Warrior (Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma), and BLOOD MEMORY director Drew Nicholas. Watch the recording!


Follow us on Facebook, InstagramTwitter and TikTok and join the conversation using the hashtags #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth and #NativeStories. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for exclusive filmmaker interviews and extras.

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