Institute History
Description
The Dann sisters, Carrie and Mary, are two Western Shoshone Indians fighting to keep the government from seizing their ancestral land and conducting underground nuclear tests there. At stake are twenty-four million acres and the survival of an ancient people. To Protect Mother Earth. Joel Freedman's powerful sequel to the acclaimed Broken Treaty at Battle Mountain. is a gripping account oft he continuing battle between Native Americans and the U.S. government. Maintaining that the land was legally retained in the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, the Shoshone must stake their claim in the Supreme Court.
Focusing on the Dann sisters, the film bears witness to the determination and strength of the people these two women represent. The Dann sisters are heroines with deep convictions rooted in their history and oral tradition. Their intelligence towers over the faint attempts by government attorneys to overwhelm them with jargon. The film however, isn't a dry courtroom account. Just as the sisters are driven by their traditional Indian belief that land is life, spiritually and economically, the life of To Protect Mother Earth lies in that land, photographed in all its majesty.
Sunday, January 21 7:00 p.m.
Sundance Screening Room
Monday, January 22 1:30 p.m.
Holiday Village Cinema l
Tuesday, January 23 1:00 p.m.
Holiday Village Cinema III
Thursday, January 25 10:00 a.m.
Egyptian Theatre
Friday, January 28 4:30 p.m.
Holiday Village Cinema I
$5.00