“While a court battle over a law meant to keep Native American families from being separated seems destined for the U.S. Supreme Court, a new documentary clearly depicts the horrific circumstances that often arise when states decide to remove Native children from their families.

“If, through our film, people see that [the removal of Native children] is a problem then that’s a success,” said the film’s co-director Adam Mazo.

Dawnland opens in a 1974 Senate hearing in which Native American women and children explain how they were separated by child welfare workers. A pig-tailed and bespectacled girl named Anna begins to cry as she leans forward to speak into a microphone, describing how her brother was abused in their foster home.”

Continue reading at The Imprint.