Powerlands Film Screening and Discussion with Indigenous Filmmaker to be Held Dec. 1 at UMass Amherst

A diverse coalition of colleges and departments on campus have teamed up to present the award-winning documentary Powerlands, which highlights how members of the energy industry have displaced indigenous people and devastated the environment of their native lands. The event, presented in recognition of Native American Heritage Month, will also feature a pre-showing discussion with the film’s director and a question-and-answer session with UMass Amherst faculty and deans. 

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The live event will take place on Thursday, Dec. 1, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the College of Education’s Carney Family Auditorium in Furcolo Hall at 813 N. Pleasant St. It will be followed by a showing of the 75-minute award-winning documentary. 

Powerlands is directed by Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso, a queer Navajo filmmaker who, at the age of 19, sought to investigate the exploitation of the lands where she was born. The film became a personal and political journey in which she learns from Indigenous activists across three continents. 

“My family can trace our history to 85 generations with this land,” Manybeads Tso told Democracy Now!. “I began working on this film to document our community’s struggle against resource colonization. Along the way, I found that we are not alone. This is a story of Indigenous people protecting and rebuilding.” 

The event is sponsored by The Energy Transition Institute, the Center for Multicultural Advancement and Student Successs, the UMass Amherst Libraries, the College of Education, the College of Engineering, the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, the College of Natural Sciences and the departments of History and Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies. 

Register for the event here.