Documentary on effort to protect Lake County’s sacred tribal sites nominated for Emmy
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A documentary that follows the effort of Lake County tribes to protect their sacred sites against archaeological crimes has been nominated for an Emmy Award.
“Saving the Sacred” has been nominated for an Emmy in the best documentary, historical/cultural category, said Dino Beltran, a tribal council member for the Koi Nation of Lower Lake, one of the film’s producers.
Beltran said he received news of the nomination on Thursday.
His co-producer is Sherry Treppa, tribal chair for the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake.
“As native people no longer in control of our aboriginal lands it’s in our DNA to protect our lands but if we can’t do that then we must protect the historical and cultural artifacts that are evidence of our existence,” said Treppa. “This film educates the public on the topic and demonstrates that a community that values this culture and works together to protect it can be successful.”
Treppa said the goal was to educate and really demonstrate the power of community and hopefully entertain. An award wasn’t her goal, she added, but she’s happy people liked it.
The film is competing against a documentary by Hawaiian Airlines called “Ka Huaka’i: The Journey to Merrie Monarch.”
This is the second Emmy Beltran has been nominated for in his effort to preserve and document the tribal history of Lake County.
In June 2017, he was among a group that won the Emmy in the “Historic/ Cultural-Program/ Special” category for “A Walk Through Time: The Story of Anderson Marsh.”
By the time he won the Emmy, Beltran already was in the process of doing the groundwork for “Saving the Sacred,” which was started in 2018 and completed in 2019.
The topic of this film, which debuted in the fall of 2019, is Ancestors 1, the agreement the Koi Nation, the Habematolel Pomo, Elem Indian Colony and Robinson Rancheria entered into with the county of Lake and which the Board of Supervisors approved in December 2015.
The goal of the agreement, the sixth of its type in California, is to protect sacred sites through the development process. It also established formal relationships with the sheriff and district attorney to prosecute archaeological crimes.
The 28-minute film follows the efforts of Beltran and Treppa as they put the agreement together with the county government and other tribes.
Featured in the film are former Gov. Jerry Brown; Christina Snider, Native American Heritage Commission executive secretary and governor’s tribal advisor, Office of the Governor, who is herself Pomo; Sheriff Brian Martin; and Supervisor EJ Crandell.
The film’s director is Dan Bruns of the California State University, Chico Advanced Lab for Visual Anthropology, who won the Emmy along with Beltran for “A Walk Through Time.”
Award-winning actor, director and documentary narrator Peter Coyote, who narrated “A Walk Through Time,” also narrated “Saving the Sacred.”
This year’s Emmy event will be a virtual ceremony on June 5.
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