The Bay Area Video Coalition’s new online video series The Stream features a segment on a new media application developed by the Sacred Land Film Project. The application for mobile devices tells the story of indigenous culture through indigenous voices using video, audio and photos and augmented reality so that a hidden history is unveiled.

SLFP Project Director Toby McLeod discussed his experiences filming Losing Sacred Ground and In the Light of Reverence and shared his thoughts on human relationships with sacred natural places on the July 27 edition of the weekly radio program “A World of Possibilities.”

You may have heard, Sacred Land Film Project was at the BAVC Producers Institute, an intense new media bootcamp leading to a project presentation before a packed house at the The Center in San Francisco.

For ten days our team was immersed in learning about emerging new media technologies, how to harness them for social and environmental justice, how to nurture and grow communities, and how to motivate positive action using these tools. Topics ranged from alternate, augmented, virtual and hybrid digital reality, web 3.0, the “intelligent web,” data visualization, interactive mapping, to twitter strategy and crowd sourcing.

We’ve been throwing around some new terms here in the SLFP office: New media. Interactive mobile technology. Geocasting. Augmented reality.

At first blush, it may seem incongruous for a group that’s focused on protecting traditional cultures and ancient sacred places, but the Sacred Land Film Project is about to join Web 3.0.

Sacred Land Film Project director Toby McLeod and writer Jessica Abbe will be in attendance at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival’s screening of In the Light of Reverence this weekend. If you are in the neighborhood and can join them please do stop by. The film will screen this Saturday, Jan.  16, at 1:30 [...]

IUCN has published two new translations of “Sacred Natural Sites: Guidelines for Protected Area Managers,” co-edited by SLFP’s Toby McLeod with Robert Wild. The English, Spanish and Russian documents are available for free download. IUCN, aka the World Conservation Union, announced the new translations in a press release:
“We decided to present the Spanish version of [...]

Sacred Land Film Project has completed our 2009 annual report summarizing the year and recent production work on our new film series “Losing Sacred Ground.” You can download the report, titled “If We Don’t Laugh, We’ll Cry” now.
Here’s a sneak preview:
In northern California, soft October light shimmered on the McCloud River as Winnemem Wintu leaders [...]

POWER PATHS, a one-hour film directed by Bo Boudart, written by SLFP’s Jessica Abbe and narrated by Peter Coyote, will be nationally broadcast Nov. 3 on the PBS series Independent Lens. SLFP Project Director Toby McLeod contributed advice and archival footage to this timely documentary on renewable energy development in Indian Country.
POWER PATHS offers a [...]

In the Light of Reverence, Toby McLeod’s award-winning film exploring American culture’s relationship to nature in three places considered sacred by native peoples — the Colorado Plateau in the Southwest, Mount Shasta in California, and Devils Tower in Wyoming — will be screening as part of the Chico Green Film and Solution Series, at 7:30 [...]

Coming Up From the Roots, a conversation with women leaders at the forefront of the environmental justice movement, will take place at the Brower Center Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. Click here for more information and to buy tickets. Wahleah Johns, Executive Director at Black Mesa Water Coalition,  Vien Truong, Senior Policy Associate at [...]

It is with great pleasure that we welcome the newest member of the Sacred Land Film Project team, Elena Gardella. Elena brings nearly a decade of financial and bookkeeping experience to the project, as well as a great commitment to the arts. Besides her work at Sacred Land Film Project, she acts in Lucky Dog [...]

Sacred Land Film project is reaching out on social media platforms to expose assaults on sacred landscapes and to promote conversation around protecting the ecological integrity of these endangered places. Please add to the discussion by becoming part of our cause on Facebook, following us on Twitter, connecting to us on Current, hitting our links [...]

It is with pleasure that we welcome the newest member of the Sacred Land Film Project team, Managing Producer Jennifer Huang. We were humbled by the overwhelming response to our job posting for the Associate Producer position and we thank all of the talented people who applied. Jennifer has been a documentary filmmaker and writer [...]

After 30 years of working out of my bedroom, my basement, a garage converted office, the cabin out back, and the house next door, the Sacred Land Film Project has moved into the wonderful, new, green David Brower Center in Berkeley. When gasoline hit $4 per gallon I knew it was just going to get [...]

On Sunday, May 10, from 11 AM – 7:30 PM, the David Brower Center will host a grand opening celebration. This is a great opportunity for you to tour the Center, visit the new resident organizations, hear live music and lectures, view documentaries, and learn how to engage in a variety of environmental and social [...]

After 26 years headquartered an hour south of San Francisco in the remote hamlet of La Honda, we are pleased to announce that SLFP has moved to the new David Brower Center in Berkeley, California. We are now housed in a beautiful green building, sharing space for the first time with our fiscal sponsor, Earth [...]

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our recently departed Associate Producer, Ashley Tindall, who helped bring Losing Sacred Ground from research and development through our second year of production. Ashley has moved on to new career horizons, and we thank her for her two-plus years of service. We are currently in the [...]

As the Sacred Land Film Project continues to film stories of indigenous communities working to protect sacred lands around the world for our documentary series Losing Sacred Ground, we are blogging about our experiences and sharing what we’re learning about issues indigenous peoples are facing. Read about our exciting film trips: three weeks in the [...]

Thousands of sacred natural sites are in jeopardy around the world despite the fact that many lie within formal “Protected Areas.”
At the upcoming World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, Spain, this October,  IUCN and UNESCO will launch the latest in the Best Practice Guidelines Series on Protected Area management. The new guidelines are entitled “Sacred Natural [...]

An afternoon screening of In the Light of Reverence and a panel discussion with Native American leaders Winona LaDuke, Oren Lyons, Henrietta Mann and Caleen Sisk-Franco will be presented during the week of the opening of Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, in Washington D.C., in association with Spirit: The Seventh Fire, a theatrical [...]

2003 Annual Report.

Our next film will feature struggles to protect sacred places in countries around the world. As part of our initial research and development, we are expanding our project focus to include site reports on some of the well known sacred places around the world. Additional lesser known site profiles will be appearing regularly in the [...]

The Sacred Land Reader, a 92-page collection of essays on Native American sacred places, is now available to download from our website. The Sacred Land Reader compiles some of the best essays from last 10 years exploring the meaning and importance of sacred lands. Featured are Sacred Lands and Religious Freedom by Lakota scholar Vine [...]

A Canton, Ohio court has dismissed an appeal by Barbara Crandell, a Cherokee woman who has been convicted of trespassing on ancient Indian Mounds at the Moundbuilders Country Club golf course. Ms. Crandell has prayed at the site for 20 years, and argues that the land is public. The ruling by the 5th Ohio District [...]

Read the Sacred Land Film Project’s 2002 Annual Report.

The Sacred Land Film Project has published a 48-page Teacher’s Guide for use with In the Light of Reverence, our award-winning documentary film on Native American sacred land struggles. The guide contains 23 activities for high school and college teachers in the areas of Social Studies, Environment and Language Arts.

The Sacred Land Film Project helped organize a forum on sacred land protection at the Department of the Interior headquarters as part of a week-long conference (from March 19-22) convened to form a national Sacred Lands Protection Coalition. The DOI forum was intended to draw the attention of legislators and federal land managers toward improving [...]

From June 12-15, 2002, the Indigenous Environmental Network is hosting a strategic meeting of Indigenous peoples impacted by mining and mineral extraction related to gold, zinc and copper mining, uranium mining, coal mining and other mining activities.

Read the Sacred Land Film Project’s 2001 Annual Report.

In October of 2001, the Sacred Land Film Project received a grant from the Ford Foundation to expand the distribution opportunities for In the Light of Reverence. The $200,000 grant allows us to produce a DVD version of the film, hold more community screenings around the country, expand our website, publish a Teacher’s Guide and [...]

Since the tragic events of September 11 there have been several major attacks on sacred lands. The Sacred Land Film Project has sent out e-mail action alerts in an effort to keep citizens informed about emerging policy decisions. It is important not to let these decisions go by unnoticed, in spite of the pressures and [...]

The Sacred Land Film Project co-hosted a Native American Sacred Lands Forum in Boulder and Denver, Colorado. More than one hundred native activists and tribal leaders came together with federal land managers, professors, journalists and students to discuss strategies for strengthening protection of sacred places.

In the Light of Reverence was nationally broadcast on PBS, on P.O.V., the groundbreaking series of independent documentaries! It was the highest-rated POV show of the summer, with 3 million viewers tuning in.
The Television Race Initiative published a great facilitator’s guide to accompany the broadcast.You can download the Discussion Guide from the POV website at [...]

Two jam-packed screenings of In the Light of Reverence highlighted this year’s Telluride Mountainfilm Festival. After each screening, viewers were treated to a discussion between Lakota scholar Vine Deloria, Jr. and filmmaker Christopher McLeod. In the Q&A, an angry rock climber challenged Deloria’s contention that climbers should stay off Devils Tower in Wyoming, but when [...]

The PBS series POV (“Point of View”) – the premiere broadcast venue for independent documentary films – has accepted In the Light of Reverence for national broadcast on public television on August 14, 2001 at 10:00 PM (check your local listings).

Read the Sacred Land Film Project’s 2000 Annual Report

In the Light of Reverence was awarded the Best Documentary Feature award at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco on November 11, 2000. Though the film is not yet 100% finished – as we await word from the PBS series POV (Point of View) – we presented a “special advance screening” of the [...]

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has released a new study on the impact of Peabody Coal Company’s coal slurry on Hopi springs. “Drawdown” reports that the Department of the Interior’s own hydrology data indicates that the aquifer beneath Black Mesa is being seriously depleted and Hopi springs are drying up as a result of [...]

Seventh Generation Fund will convene a “Sacred Earth Conference” from April 19-22, 2001 at Seattle University in Washington.
The goal of the conference will be to form a native directed coalition to address the issue of sacred site protection. In the Light of Reverence will be screened on the first night of the conference. For more [...]

Read the Sacred Land Film Project’s 1999 Annual Report

The Sacred Land Film Project has received completion funding from the Independent Television Service (ITVS) to finish the documentary In the Light of Reverence for public television. This ensures completion of the broadcast version of the film by July 2000. A simultaneous grant from Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT) gives the film a second important [...]

The Museum of the California Indian will present a screening of a 30 minute rough cut of In the Light of Reverence at the Presidio, in conjunction with Earth Day. A panel discussion will follow with Chris Peters (Pohlik-lah/Karuk) Executive Director of the Seventh Generation Fund, Christopher (Toby) McLeod, Director of the Sacred Land Film [...]

Hopi elder Thomas Banyacya passed away on February 9, 1999, at the age of 89. He is remembered in our 1999 Annual Report.

Read the Sacred Land Film Project’s 1998 Annual Report

Lakota scholar Vine Deloria, Jr. (University of Colorado, Boulder) and Richard Stoffle (University of Arizona) have released an exhaustive new report titled “Native American Sacred Sites and the Department of Defense” which is available on-line. The report contains chapters on Native American Concepts of Sacred Sites, U.S. Military Impacts on Sacred Places (state by state), [...]

A Victory for Devils Tower
On April 3, 1998 a Federal judge in Wyoming ruled that the National Park Service’s attempt to protect religious practices at Devils Tower is constitutional. The Park Service had instituted a climbing management plan which included a voluntary ban on climbing during the month of June, at the height of ceremonial [...]

Forest Service Says No to Ski Resort on Mt. Shasta
U.S. Forest Service Supervisor Sharon Heywood announced on February 19, 1998 that she would recommend against the construction of a $22 million ski resort that threatened Native American spiritual practices and sacred sites at Mt. Shasta. For fifteen years, a coalition of Indian and other activist [...]

Read the Sacred Land Film Project’s 1997 Annual Report

The Sacred Land Film Project’s documentary A Thousand Years of Ceremony: Florence Jones and the Struggle to Save Mt. Shasta, will premiere on the opening night of the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco. The 37-minute film is an intimate portrait of Wintu “top doctor” Florence Jones and her community’s efforts to protect sacred [...]

The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Foundation of San Francisco today announced that three Bay Area environmental groups – Earth Island Institute, Rainforest Action Network, and International Rivers Network – will each receive a $1 million grant over the next four years to further their grassroots work. The grant to Earth Island is to assist with [...]

Read the Sacred Land Film Project’s 1996 Annual Report

Read the Sacred Land Film Project’s 1995 Annual Report

In a stunning reversal, the Keeper of the Register of Historic Places has changed the nomination of Mt. Shasta to the national register. Originally, the keeper found that Mt. Shasta in its entirety was eligible to the list, due in part to the entire mountain’s spiritual significance to numerous Native American cultures. After private property [...]