Awake, A Dream From Standing Rock, is a documentary from directors Josh Fox, James Spione and Myron Dewey that premiered at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in April 2017. This documentary will be screened in Old Main’s Giffels Auditorium on Thursday, April 19, at 6 p.m. as part of the Earth Day programming around campus, designed to ignite a conversation about environmentalism and Indigenous activism.
This screening is co-hosted by the University Libraries Sustainability Committee, the Native American Student Association, the Indigenous Studies Program, the Robert A. and Vivian Young Law Library and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. Admission is free and open to the public.
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, 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 tepees, distributing clothing donations, or building sleeping barracks for the many veterans who arrived to join the water protectors.
“I am excited to bring so many groups across campus that are interested in the intersections between sustainability, land stewardship and Indigenous activism,” said Marianne Williams, librarian-in-residence for University Libraries. “Working with the University Libraries Sustainability Committee, Young Law Library, Indigenous Studies Program, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society and the Native American Student Association to bring this film to the University of Arkansas has been encouraging, and I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to screen such a relevant film on campus in advance of Earth Day.”