PROTECT: A Documentary

November 1, 2019

The Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (LiKEN) and Paper Rocket Productions, a Diné/Hopi film crew, will soon be releasing the film, PROTECT, a powerful new documentary exploring the challenges of Native Americans and other front line communities living in proximity to fossil fuel extraction projects in the United States. Executive Produced by SfAA member and LiKEN Associate Director Julie Maldonado, this cinema verite piece follows 24 Indigenous community organizers and allies as they caravan across the lower 48 on the 2016 Protect Our Public Lands Tour For a Just and Renewable Energy Future. Ideal for educational, activist and general audiences alike, the film will be available in Fall 2019 at http://www.protectfilm.org/

As the caravan winds its way across the US, the film introduces audiences to an array of environmental and human rights challenges through interactions with the Indigenous communities that bear the brunt of the health and pollution impacts of oil, gas and coal projects. Filmmakers hope the documentary will provide a platform for facilitating sharing and solidarity across generations, communities, and nations.

“The film shows the power of working together, and tells the story of folks fighting for empowerment and justice now and for those to come,” said Deidra Peaches of Paper Rocket Productions and director of Protect. “We chose to spotlight the indigenous philosophy that all things are sacred and shouldn’t be disrespected or exploited. Indigenous Peoples like the ones in the film hold key knowledge, and our film shares their first-hand accounts of their urgent and inspiring resistance against environmental and climate injustice,” she added.

“An increasingly warming planet, fascist regimes, and loss of civil and human rights are causing profound harm, yet, collaborative actions are re-imagining justice and change,” said Julie Maldonado, Executive Producer of Protect. “We are witnessing uprisings, determined to protect our most basic, vital resources from the greed of the few for the good of all. Now, it is more important than ever that we hear the voices of people like those in the film, those who hold key knowledge and expertise on how to resist injustice, and how to build movements to protect the water, lands, air, and life.”

Accompanying the production is a website (http://www.protectfilm.org/) and companion materials, including an engagement toolkit to support educators and activists with community screening events. For further information, contact Julie Maldonado, jmaldonado@likenknowledge.org