Veteran filmmaker, George Burdeau journeys home to his own Blackfoot reservation to explore his tribe's crucial struggle to forge a new identity. Under his guidance, a team of young Blackfoot filmmakers use a melange of documentary, experimental, and cinema vérité to join the ancient legend of "Scarface" with contemporary stories that parallel the Native American experience.
Literally backed up against a wall, the Blackfoot reservation lies in the great shadow of the Rocky Mountains - known to the tribe as the "Backbone of the World". The Badger Two Medicine, a 130,000 acre tract of treaty land has recently been opened for oil drilling by the U.S. Forest Service. An important spiritual retreat for the Blackfoot people, the Badger Canyon region is now threatened by water contamination and the inevitable destruction of plants used for medicinal and spiritual purposes. In examining the issues of modernism vs. tradition and nature vs. commerce, Burdeau and his team of modern storytellers search for ways to preserve the sacred land of their ancestors for current and future generations.
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Backbone of the World is part of the First Peoples' TV series made possible by DreamCatchers, a non-profit organization working to bring Native films to a wider audience.
Available from Rattlesnake Productions
PHONE (406) 586-1151
E-MAIL: proberts@mcn.net
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