AWAKE, A Dream from Standing Rock will be screened at the Fresno State Henry Madden Library, Conference Room 2206 on Tuesday, April 10 at 6 p.m. Fresno State’s President’s Commission on Human Relations and Equity is organizing this event as part of the President’s Forum for Inclusion, Respect and Equity. Admission is free and open to the public. Following the screening there will be a Q&A with Floris White Bull. AWAKE is touring the world with the leaders of the Indigenous Media Fund. To see a full list of upcoming screenings and events please visit http://awakethefilm.org. See a trailer: https://youtu.be/IprMaqJQtSA.

A unique collaborative documentary created in three chapters, each helmed by a different filmmaker, the feature length film is directed by Academy Award nominated filmmaker and activist Josh Fox (Gasland, How To Let Go Of The World And Love All The Things Climate Can’t Change), Academy Award nominated filmmaker James Spione (Silenced, Incident in New Baghdad) and indigenous filmmaker and Digital Smoke Signals founder Myron Dewey.

AWAKE follows the dramatic rise of the historic #NODAPL native-led peaceful resistance at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, which captured the world’s attention as one of the biggest stories of 2016. Thousands of activists converged from around the country to stand in solidarity with the water protectors (activists) protesting the construction of the $3.7 billion Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), which is intended to carry fracked oil from North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields through sovereign land and under the Missouri River, the water source for the Standing Rock reservation and 17 million people downstream.

Each of the three sections of the film tells the story of the Standing Rock protests in the unique perspective and style of the filmmaker who created it. The immersive documentary features emotional first-person accounts as well as gripping verité footage of militarized local police and private security teams confronting water protectors and journalists with rubber bullets, mace, tear gas, water hoses, and weaponized dogs. But the film also takes us behind the front lines to reveal the intimate day-to-day life of the camp community, as indigenous and non-indigenous protectors gather for peaceful prayer and song, and engage in daily tasks like clearing snow, raising tipis, distributing clothing donations, or building sleeping barracks for the many veterans who arrived to join the water protectors.

While President Trump has approved DAPL, the fight against the pipeline continues in the courts. Meanwhile, a number of other pipeline protest camps have sprung up around the country. Standing Rock has awakened the nation and forever changed the way we fight for clean water, the environment and the future of our planet.

“The battle that began at Standing Rock is a battle for the soul of America itself, and it is far from over. This film is part of the rallying cry for indigenous sovereignty and clean water that has resonated across the globe. It has been a great honor and privilege to work with people from Standing Rock, like Floris White Bull and Doug Good Feather, who have guided this project every step of the way,” says Fox the project creator.

Executive produced by Doug Good Feather, Emmy Award winning filmmaker Amy Ziering (The Invisible War, The Hunting Grounds) and Lauren Taschen, the film’s score features music from indigenous musician/activists Nahko, (Nahko and Medicine for the People) and Prolific the Rapper. Floris White Bull and Doug Good Feather serve as advisors, White Bull is also one of the film’s writers.

AWAKE, A Dream from Standing Rock will be available online at http://awakethefilm.org and on Netflix. The non-profit International Wow presents the film; all proceeds will be donated to further the film’s mission through the Pipeline Fighters Fund and Indigenous Media Fund, which were created by the filmmakers to support future pipeline battles and indigenous journalists.

See the flyer.