Upstander Project’s team sends love and condolences to the families and loved ones of upstanders who have passed in recent weeks: Former U.S. Senator James Abourezk, architect of the Indian Child Welfare Act, appears in the opening scene of Dawnland, in no small part due to his generosity and recollections, which helped us uncover the archival footage featured in the movie. Margot Stern Strom, co-founder of Massachusetts-based Facing History and Ourselves, teacher, and visionary, built an organization that continues to have profound global impact. We are grateful to have met Margot and to collaborate with her colleagues. Former Massachusetts state representative Mel King, public intellectual and activist, was the first Black man to earn a spot in the general election for Boston mayor and is credited with helping to usher in a new era in Boston race relations. As we say in our Jewish tradition, may the memories of these extraordinary humans be a blessing to all they touched and may their spirits rise higher and higher.
Film ‘Dawnland’ recounts ‘history that isn’t usually taught’
“When someone hears the phrase “truth and reconciliation commission,” South Africa usually comes to mind. But the Emmy-winning 2018 film “Dawnland,” which will be shown for the public next Thursday, March 30, at 6:30 p.m. in the Bromfield School’s Cronin Auditorium, brings the idea much closer to home.”
The New Maine Classics
“Nothing but love for Kenneth Roberts, Edna St. Vincent Millay, E. B. White, and other old-school heavyweights, but the last 25 years have also given us a bumper crop of motley, memorable Maine storytelling — and not all of it on the page. We sifted through the last quarter-century of Maine media and plucked 25 gems — a sundry set of books, films, digital projects, and more — that’ll hold up in another 25 years.”
In "Reciprocity Project," Indigenous voices reframe our relationship to the Earth
“In one episode of the docu-series Reciprocity Project, Connecticut-based educator and member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe Chris Newell teaches acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma a pow-wow song. Together, they play at sunrise, "singing up the sun" in the tradition of the Wabanaki or People of the Dawnland, a confederation of four tribes in Maine including Passamaquoddy.”
The best films of 2022, according to our critics
“Special mentions to Dale Dickey in “A Love Song.” Season one of the Boston-produced Reciprocity Project, particularly “Weckuwapok (The Approaching Dawn).” Donkeys. They deserve better. And a shout out to Providence documentary producer-director Sara Archambault (“Riotsville, U.S.A.," “No Time to Fail,” “A Decent Home”), and Boston documentary director-festival founder Sabrina Aviles (“Raising the Floor,” CineFest Latino Boston) for knocking 2022 out of the park.”
A new short documentary gives voice to Maine’s Wabanaki people
Why We Should Listen to Indigenous Voices About the Climate Crisis
“According to the United Nations, areas managed by indigenous peoples are among the most biodiverse and well-conserved on the planet.
The Reciprocity Project is a series of 7 Indigenous-made films exploring the concept of reciprocity in Indigenous cultures, or “the way of life that centers mutual exchange and sharing amongst all beings, past, present and future, seen and unseen, and the Earth.” And through these films and Indigenous perspectives, the project aims to spark conversation and action on the climate crisis.”
Generations later, Mainers confront a genocide that still remains overlooked
“Dawn Neptune Adams dreams of being hunted.
For much of her life, the nightmare remained the same: Adams runs in the woods, chased by unseen captors.
“It is intergenerational trauma,” Adams explained, “from my ancestors being hunted and tortured.”
Adams is a member of the Penobscot Nation and the bounty that was placed on her Indigenous ancestors more than 250 years ago still torments her sleep and her waking hours.”