July 16, 2001              Home                  Return to Articles

On Tuesday, August 14, at 10 p.m., In the Light of Reverence, a new, award-winning documentary about Native American sacred lands, will air as a PBS special on the POV (Point of View) series.

The film, created as part of the Sacred Land Film Project, was produced and directed by Christopher (Toby) McLeod, who has been working with indigenous communities as a filmmaker for twenty-four years. McLeod has produced several award-winning documentaries, including Voices of the Land, a 20-minute preview of the Sacred Land Film Project.

In the Light of Reverence details the struggles of three Native American groups — Hopi, Lakota, and Wintu — to preserve the sacred nature of specific places that are linked to their religious practices. As the film's website describes the issues:

For indigenous communities such as the Wintu, Hopi and Lakota, the earth is sacred, and their religious practices hinge on their responsibility to take care of the natural world by performing ceremonies that are linked to specific places. However, the mainstream society's value of religious freedom does not apply to this indigenous philosophy. Land-based religions were not in the minds of the founding fathers when they wrote the First Amendment, nor are they understood by the American public today. What is our society's responsibility to Americans who have been forced off their homelands, politically and economically dispossessed, and even massacred for their beliefs? These acts seem unthinkable now, but the denial of religious freedom to land-based religions is a continuation of our nation's old ways of dealing with the ''Indian problem.''

In the Light of Reverence won the Jury Award at Telluride Mountainfilm in 2001. When this film was shown there, according to a news story referenced at sacredlands.org, an angry rock climber protested at being told to stay off Devils Tower in Wyoming. But he fell silent when given an explanation of the Tower's sacred meaning.

In the Light of Reverence is a presentation of the Independent Television Service in association with Native American Public Telecommunications with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.