All My Relations

• The United States is a rich, powerful country with over 50 years of strong wildlife protection laws. Even so, most wildlife continues to be in decline. In the face of an extinction crisis worldwide, what hope is there for the rest of the planet? This films shows that species recovery IS possible, even in the most remote, marginalized communities. Are the laws we've been reliant on for biodiversity in North America enough? Or is it time we consider a paradigm shift in how we human beings relate to the natural world?
• The film explores what we can learn from people who survived and thrived in North America for 10,000+ years before the arrival of Europeans.
• This film shines a light on 3 emergent and time-sensitive conservation stories. Yellowstone bison, last descendants of the vast, wild herds that roamed North America, are at a tipping point in a divisive, 20-year political turf war in Montana that grew out of old range wars, pitting state against federal power, the old western way of life against the new, and livestock against wildlife. Black footed ferrets are the most endangered mammal in North America, with only a couple hundred surviving in the wild. And though chinook salmon have rebounded since their listing on the Endangered Species List in the 1990s, their recovery is made tenuous by the continued threat of dams, disputes over cheap power and water, and most recently, climate change. Tribes are making a big difference, but long term survival of these species will be up to all of us. 
• To open a window onto contemporary American Indian life and culture - and move the needle on both overly romantic and overly negative preconceptions in the mainstream culture. 
• To empower and galvanize native youth into taking charge of their own futures and their own resources, an issue that becomes increasingly pressing as indigenous people play a growing role in the bio-diversity of our planet.

FILMMAKER’S STATEMENT: 

I set out to tell a positive story about native people, who mostly seem to attract attention from mainstream media when there are negative stories. On the whole, native people are absent from - and seemingly forgotten - by mainstream cultures and media throughout the world, including the United States. 

I also had selfish reasons of my own: I was looking for a silver lining and reasons for hope. I was born in a small native subsistence community in the Arctic where people did and continue to struggle with poverty, social problems and feelings of unease in the modern world. These circumstances co-existed with resilience, joy, humor, ingenuity and human closeness - qualities I saw again in native communities in the US. In my home town, the people had been few and nature large and dominant. Most of my family were traditional hunters out of culture and necessity and aside from providing our daily food, I grew up humbled by the enormity, power and beauty of nature, and was forced to study and feel its heartbeat and processes in a very immediate way. When I later moved to cities in developed, technological societies I was struck by the detachment between people and nature - and wondered if disregard for and separation from nature and our natural connection to other human beings plays an important role in the emptiness many people report feeling about modern life. For many years I’ve wanted to explore what indigenous perspectives could add to this discussion - but also offer in the way of plausible, practical solutions. (June Molgaard)