Indigenous Media

We produce and digitally distribute documentaries uplifting the environmental and climate justice stories of Native Nations and Indigenous Peoples—highlighting how the violence of colonization continues to affect Native American tribal communities.

Our Water Ways (2024)

A feature-length documentary supported by Patagonia, Weingart Foundation, and Climate Science Alliance that highlights Tribal nations with homelands in California’s forest, urban, desert, and coastal lands and the critical ways they protect sacred water.

Calls to Action: Support Tribal Communities featured in the film & the Waters They Are Protecting

Friends of the Amargosa Basin: Protect the Amargosa Basin We Love for Future Generations!
Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary: The proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary is a grassroots effort led by the Northern Chumash Tribal Council in partnership with the Marine Sanctuary Alliance, Santa Lucia Chapter of Sierra Club, SLO Chapter of Surfrider Foundation, COAST, and others.
Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation: Bridging Chumash culture, wisdom, and values with present day protection of natural and cultural resources.
Ocean Origins collaborates with communities, stewards, managers, and scientists to develop multi-ecosystem solutions.

Bodies of Water: Paayme Paxaayt (2023)

Showcases the voices of Tongva, Chumash, Gabrielino-Shoshone, and Acjachemen tribal folx along with representatives from local BIPOC environmental justice (EJ) organizations. This film celebrates the Tribal and BIPOC EJ advocacy for protecting the health of Paayme Paxaayt (the L.A. River) and what this sacred waterway means to their communities.

California Indigenous Perspectives on Water (2022)

A historical overview of the Acjachemen, Tongva, and Chumash California tribes and their historical relationship to water. The documentary highlights recommendations for environmental organizations and local and state governments on how to form respectful and reciprocal relationships with the tribes.

Cadiz Inc. (2018)

Explores the Cadiz, Inc. corporation's proposed Cadiz Water Project--a project slated to pump billions of gallons of water from an ancient aquifer in the Mojave Desert to consumers in Southern California. Tribal nations and environmental groups have long opposed the project.

The Indians Reply (2024)

Produced by SPI’s Indigenous Media Team and directed by Spenser Jaimes, this documentary complements the Reclaiming El Camino: Native Resistance in the Missions and Beyond exhibition at the Autry Museum, curated by Deana Dartt of the Coastal Chumash Nation

Saving Payahüüpü: The Owens Valley Solar Story (2014)

The film focuses on the ways in which a 1200-acre industrial-scale solar energy development project proposed by the L.A. Department of Water and Power would cause severe and irreparable harm to Paiute cultural sites and to the integrity of the Manzanar National Historic Site located in the Owens Valley.