Unassailable Ecological Documentaries
Natural Law, Destruction, and Rebirth on Film
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THE CINEMA OF ROBERT LUNDAHL
Unassailable adjective
unable to be attacked, questioned or defeated.
sacred, holy, inviolable, pure, untouchable, sacrosanct, protected,
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Unconquering the Last Frontier (97 Min.) chronicles the historic saga of the damming and undamming of Washington's Elwha River. Set against the dramatic backdrop of the ongoing salmon crisis in the Pacific Northwest, the film tells the story of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe's struggle to survive in the shadow of hydropower development. PBS.
Liner Notes:
On the the occasion of what would have been Grateful Dead occasional keyboardist, and solo rock impresario Merl Saunders’ 75th birthday, the San Francisco music scene converged at the Great American Music Hall to celebrate the noted local.
Saunders had grown up in the city nearby to friend Johnny Mathis and was seduced into the Rock and Roll world. Son, Tony Saunders, the Dead’s Bob Weir, Dino Valente Jr., son of Quicksilver Messenger Service frontman Dino Valente Sr., and others joined up on stage to pay tribute.
Tony Saunders (on bass) had scored the soundtrack to Robert Lundahl’s film, Unconquering the Last Frontier, along with members of Oakland’s Tower of Power, in a remarkable testament to the musicianship and range of styles and capabilities of the Saunders extended family.
PBS, Free Speech TV, Theatrical, Washington, California
Song on the Water 4K Trailer
Song on the Water (Promo)
60 minute documentary. In the 1960's Native Americans in the state of Washington were forbidden from fishing in their traditional areas, off the reservations. In what became know as the “Fish Wars,” tribal fishermen were harassed and sometimes beaten by State Police.
When the Boalt Decision passed in the U.S. federal courts in 1976, the federal government guaranteed the rights to fish in “usual and accustomed grounds.” But the state often denied access. Finally in a compromise, the state agreed to allow tribes to access traditional fishing grounds if they demonstrated they could access them by traditional means, ocean going canoes.
Lundahl’s award winning ethnographic documentary, “Song on the Water” (2005), takes viewers along with 50 indigenous canoes, their crews, and communities on a modern-day voyage to a traditional potlatch. Filled with beautiful photography and inspiring Coast Salish and Nuu Chah Nulth songs and cultural expressions, the one-hour film explores what the voyage means to the “pullers,” ground crews, and elders who share the waves, the traditions, and a vision of a positive future for Coast Salish youth.
PBS
Who Are My People? 4K Trailer
In the Mojave desert, the world’s energy companies converge to produce power. They’ve destroyed ecosystems, migrating birds, tortoise, and sacred places from ancient civilizations. The LA Times indicates, we are at a “Flashpoint” between competing value-systems. Bodies have been exhumed, and geoglyphs destroyed, in an area that is a long-term indigenous settlement. “Who Are My People?” depicts how the world’s energy firms have met their match in a small group of Native American elders, in the hottest desert on the planet.
Theatrical 5 States–Oregon, South Dakota, Arizona, Nevada, California
Harvest Dreams 4K Trailer
Harvest Dreams profiles four farms and four farming families on Washington’s beautiful Olympia Peninsula, as agriculture there transitions from commodity products to niche and organic produce.
The film was shot over the course of a year to reveal activities through the change of seasons. It is at once touching and tragic as generations transition and farming practices in general face competition from increasing land costs and housing development that forces some out of the business forever.
Theatrical, Washington
CONTACT:
Robert Lundahl FilmMaker, 415.205.3481, robert@studio-rla.com