NewWays Idea Developers

In 25 years of filmmaking, I’ve experienced how a documentary can touch hearts, open minds and inspire people to take action. While chronicling the ravages of coal and uranium mining in Hopi and Navajo country, native elders taught me that the environmental crisis is a spiritual crisis because the absence of a conscious connection to land and water inevitably leads to violence and threatens all life. Each of my films explores this environmental-spiritual crisis and reveals the clash of worldviews between adherents of private property and those of sacred land. My films aim to spark dialogue about our culture’s relationship to nature, encourage a reassessment of history, and achieve reconciliation with native people and the earth. Broadcasting the films on public television is just one step in a broad distribution strategy that includes outreach to schools (by Bullfrog Films), road trips with the films, and public dialogues involving native people, federal land managers, political leaders, academics and artists. Public education is a powerful process, and effective tools in the hands of inspiring teachers can spark the evolution of consciousness, inspire a new generation of activists, and change the course of history.
— Christopher McLeod, Project Director