making the world more human
Connect with others and experience the world through their eyes.
Why WE make films
Through cinema we create awareness about pressing human rights issues and explore some of the vital environmental and philosophical questions of our time.
photo credit: Sarah “Soup” Campbell
Films & Reviews
language healers
Through his directorial lens, McDermott conveys the startling need for urgency in the conservation of linguistic treasures on the cusp of extinction. He provides the audience with a personal portal into the truth behind endangered languages, demonstrating that their loss would greatly diminish our understanding of North America’s first peoples.”
-Cultural Survival
“‘Language Healers’” is one of the best documentaries I’ve found for teaching students in introductory Social Anthropology courses about language and culture. The film provides students with powerful, concrete examples of the relationship between language and identity, while also increasing their awareness of the ongoing struggles of native peoples to protect and revitalize their cultural and linguistic heritage.”
-Tate LeFevre, PhD
Assistant Professor of Anthropology Franklin & Marshall College
We are All related here
“We Are All Related Here is a beautiful film about our urgent need to support coastal communities as they adapt to enormous environmental challenges in the U.S. The film was incredibly useful for teaching about the impacts of climate change and environmental policy within indigenous communities to my undergraduate Human Ecology class. Students were enthralled, enraged, and walked away wanting to know what they can do to support the people of Newtok. I highly recommend this poetic and picturesque film.”
-Nathan Jesse, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Anthropology, Temple University
“Moving is always included as one of the top three of life’s most stressful events. But imagine how much more stressful it would be to move because the ground under your home is being washed into the sea; or because you have very little or no control in deciding when you move; or when moving puts your very cultural and social underpinnings at risk. Brian McDermott’s film, We Are All Related Here, introduces you to the people of Newtok who are resolutely moving under these conditions. Not one of your typical climate victim exposés. Highly recommended.”
-Mervyn Tano, President, International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management
MARATHON FOR JUSTICE
"Marathon for Justice powerfully reveals the heart of environmental justice and activism. Brian McDermott successfully puts human faces on devastating environmental issues by sharing the voices of the people who are rooted in land and place. This film is a critical work calling us to move toward a sustainable future for humanity and the planet.”
—Chie Sakakibara, Assistant Professor Environmental Studies, Oberlin College
“Marathon for Justice is a must-see documentary for all people who believe that we each have the human right to clean air and water and that the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples must be respected.”
-Robin Bronen, Executive Director of the Alaska Institute for Justice and Senior Research Scientist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
HALF-MILE, UPWIND,
ON FOOT
"Half-Mile, Upwind, On Foot is an inspiring account of courageous individual and community activism that challenges the strong-arm corporate tactics that produce unimaginable threats to human and social health stemming from fracking..."
–James Loucky, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Anthropology, Western Washington University
"This is a powerful film that I would highly recommend for courses on public health, environmental science, and policy. Challenging concepts like preemption and hydrology are explained by having real people narrate their lived experiences of being sacrificed for pipeline construction. I am not only planning to show this to my classes, but to hold a department-wide showing."
–Sasha Adkins, Ph.D., MPH, Lecturer, Public Health & Environmental Studies, Loyola University Chicago