Sedona AZ (April 11, 2016) – The Inspiration of Sedona is proud to present the Northern Arizona, encore premiere of Standing on Sacred Ground, a four-part documentary film series. See trailer: http://standingonsacredground.org/film-series/trailer. Part one will be shown during Earth Day weekend, on Sunday, April 24th, at 6:30 pm, at the Sedona Public Library, and will be followed by a Q&A and discussion with the director Toby McLeod. Subsequent films from the Sacred Ground series will be shown at the Church of the Red Rocks on Thursday, April 28th and May 12th, at 6:30 pm, with the final part four confirmed showing date and location TBD. There will be a discussion following each film screening.
Toby McLeod circled the globe for five years filming the Standing on Sacred Ground series. McLeod founded the Sacred Land Film Project, (www.sacredland.org), in 1984, to make high-impact documentary films relevant to indigenous communities and modern audiences. He has produced many award-winning documentary films. His first film was The Cracking of Glen Canyon Damn—with Edward Abbey and Earth First.
This event series is back by popular demand after it was initially shown at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre as part of two weeks of local Climate Care Awareness events, (
climatecareawareness.org), in conjunction with the global actions surrounding the December UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris.
Indigenous communities around the world and in the U.S. resist threats to their sacred places—the original protected lands—in a growing movement to defend human rights and restore the environment.
In this four-part documentary series, native people share ecological wisdom and spiritual reverence while battling a utilitarian view of land in the form of government megaprojects, consumer culture, and resource extraction as well as competing religions and climate change.
Narrated by Graham Greene, with the voices of Tantoo Cardinal and Q’orianka Kilcher, the series exposes threats to native peoples’ health, livelihood, and cultural survival in eight communities around the world. Rare verité scenes of tribal life allow indigenous people to tell their own stories—and confront us with the ethical consequences of our culture of consumption.
Part One: 6:30 pm Sunday, April 24th, at Sedona Public Library with Director Toby McLeod Q&A, 3250 White Bear Road, Sedona
Pilgrims and Tourists: Around the world, indigenous communities stand in the way of government megaprojects. In the Russian Republic of Altai, traditional native people create their own mountain parks to rein in tourism and resist a gas pipeline that would cut through a World Heritage Site. In northern California, Winnemem Wintu girls grind herbs on a sacred medicine rock, as elders protest U.S. government plans to enlarge one of the West’s biggest dams and forever submerge this touchstone of a tribe.
Part Two: 6:30 pm Thursday, April 28th, at Church of the Red Rocks, 54 Bowstring Drive, Sedona
Profit and Loss: From Ethiopia to Peru, indigenous customs protect biodiversity on sacred lands under pressure from religious conflicts and climate change. In the Gamo Highlands of Ethiopia, scientists confirm the benefits of traditional stewardship even as elders witness the decline of spiritual practices that have long protected trees, meadows and mountains. Tensions with evangelical Christians over a sacred meadow erupt into a riot. In the Peruvian Andes, the Q’eros, on a pilgrimage to a revered glacier, are driven from their ritual site by intolerant Catholics. Q’eros potato farmers face a more ominous foe: global warming is melting glaciers, their water source. Andes farmers, scientists and visiting Ethiopians struggle to adapt indigenous agriculture to the changing climate.
Part Three: 6:30 pm Thursday, May 12th, at Church of the Red Rocks, 54 Bowstring Drive, Sedona
Fire and Ice: From Ethiopia to Peru, indigenous customs protect biodiversity on sacred lands under pressure from religious conflicts and climate change. In the Gamo Highlands of Ethiopia, scientists confirm the benefits of traditional stewardship even as elders witness the decline of spiritual practices that have long protected trees, meadows and mountains. Tensions with evangelical Christians over a sacred meadow erupt into a riot. In the Peruvian Andes, the Q’eros, on a pilgrimage to a revered glacier, are driven from their ritual site by intolerant Catholics. Q’eros potato farmers face a more ominous foe: global warming is melting glaciers, their water source. Andes farmers, scientists and visiting Ethiopians struggle to adapt indigenous agriculture to the changing climate.
Part Four: 6:30 pm Saturday, May 28th, Location TBD
Islands of Sanctuary: Native Hawaiians and Aboriginal Australians resist threats to their sacred places in a growing international movement to defend human rights and protect the environment. In Australia’s Northern Territory, Aboriginal clans maintain Indigenous Protected Areas and resist the destructive effects of a mining boom. In Hawaii, indigenous ecological and spiritual practices are used to restore the sacred island of Kaho`olawe after 50 years of military use as a bombing range.
A discussion will follow all screenings of Standing on Sacred Ground.
This film is part of a number of Inspiration of Sedona events that will take place in April and May, in conjunction with Earth Day. These will include a major theatrical release of the film, Love Thy Nature, on Friday, April 22nd, at 3 pm, at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre. A Q&A and a nature-connected walk will follow with Dr. Sailesh Rao, Executive Director of Climate Healers (climatehealers.org), who is also the Co-Executive Producer of the film, Cowspiracy. This will be followed on Saturday, April 23rd, from 10am-3pm, by an afternoon of entertainment and education at the Sedona Recycles’ Earth Day Fair, and Dr. Rao will be there too. On Saturday, May 21st, at 7 pm, a free showing of Cowspiracy will take place in Brady Hall at Verde Valley School, with Co-Executive Producer, Dr. Sailesh Rao present for Q&A after the film.
The Inspiration of Sedona typically meets on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month. It is an open meeting group, that strives to work together collectively for the betterment of ourselves, our communities, and the world. Its current format involves showing inspiring and personally empowering documentaries about the social and environmental issues we’re collectively facing, followed by interactive discussion.
Please be a part of the inspiration by joining us for all the parts of this eye-opening Standing on Sacred Ground, free film series. For more info:
The Inspiration of Sedona meets in the basement at the Church of the Red Rocks, 54 Bowstring Drive, Sedona. Turn Right into the church parking lot and then turn right again at the first driveway, and park in the small parking lot opposite the double doors to the basement, or in the upper parking lot if full.
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