Bounty media kit
Media contact: media@upstanderproject.org
Screener
Film Synopsis
“We are citizens of the Penobscot Nation. Together we bring our families to Boston to read our ancestors’ death warrant.”
Bounty, part of our Dawnland film series, reveals the hidden story of the Phips Proclamation, one of many scalp-bounty proclamations used to exterminate Native people in order to take their land in what is now New England. In the film, Penobscot parents and children resist erasure and commemorate survival by reading and reacting to the government-issued Phips Proclamation’s call for colonial settlers to hunt, scalp, and murder Penobscot people.
Film Details
Genre: Non-fiction short
Length: 9 minutes
Language: English
Transcript: Download here
Praise for Bounty
“It may be buried history. But the atrocity of colonists’ bounty proclamations against Native American people also occupies the present. In the potent new documentary Bounty, members of the Penobscot Nation read one such death warrant to their family members, including their children, in order to share the truth.”
“The film takes place in the same ornate room where Lt. Gov. Spencer Phips signed the death warrant, and cuts between three groups of present-day Penobscot families as parents read his proclamation and try to explain it to their children. When you see the young people’s reaction, you realize that this is not a story in a book but a real event involving real people that still affects us today.”
Bounty Teacher’s Guide and media ecosystem
The Bounty Teacher’s Guide and media ecosystem support educators, students, and the members of the general public who want to deepen their understanding of the issues raised in Bounty.
bounty filmmaking team
Penobscot Families: Dawn Neptune Adams, Carmella Bear, Layla Bear, Maulian Bryant, Shiwa Noh, Charlie Shay, Tim Shay, Kaden Neptune Adams
Filmmakers: Dawn Neptune Adams (Penobscot), Maulian Bryant (Penobscot), Adam Mazo, Ben Pender-Cudlip, Tracy Rector
Producers: Adam Mazo, Tracy Rector, Ben Pender-Cudlip
Learning Director: Mishy Lesser, Ed.D.
Historical Consultant: Rebecca Sockbeson, Ph.D. (Penobscot)
Bounty images for Media Use
Please credit courtesy of Upstander Project.
