“The Return of Navajo Boy” (2000), an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and PBS, is an internationally acclaimed documentary, directed by Jeff Spitz (Groundswell Educational Films), which reunited a Navajo family and triggered a federal investigation into uranium contamination. A stunning, 57-minute film, it tells the story of a long lost brother’s return to his extended Navajo family led by Elsie Mae Cly Begay, whose history in pictures reveals an ongoing struggle for environmental justice. A new 13-minute epilogue (produced in 2008) shows how the film and Groundswell Educational Films’ outreach campaign created news and rallied supporters, resulting in a Congressional mandate for an Environmental Protection Agency clean-up of uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation, including (eventually) Ms. Begay’s backyard.
Thursday, October 25 at 4:30 P.M.
“Navajo Lives” –
Mary Begay of the Navajo Nation
Persson hall Auditorium
Friday, October 26 at 12:15 P.M.
“’The Return of Navajo Boy’:
Its Environmental impact” –
Jeff Spitz, director
ALANA Cultural center
Friday, October 26 at 7 P.M.
“The Return of Navajo Boy” The Film
Golden Auditorium, Little Hall
Co-sponsored by the Colgate Arts Council, the Native American Studies Program,
the Environmental Studies Program, the Film and Media Studies Program,
and the Department of Geography
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.