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  • 2 hours ago
People of the West is a ten-part premium docu-drama that tells the history of California through Native voices, from pre-contact life to the present day. The series combines cinematic reenactments, expert interviews, archival materials, and modern visual storytelling to present a continuous, statewide narrative rarely seen on television.

Rather than focusing on a single tribe or isolated moment, the series is designed as a comprehensive historical arc—covering creation stories, colonization, genocide, resistance, assimilation, activism, sovereignty, and restoration. Each episode stands alone, while together they form a cohesive long-form series suitable for broadcast, streaming, and educational distribution
Transcript
00:03I'm not sure exactly what my vision is trying to tell me, but I have a feeling everything is
00:08about to change. I was taught in school that what happened to Native Americans
00:15wasn't a genocide. That's absolutely not true.
00:22We are the survivors of a holocaust. They called it expansion or civilization or manifest destiny,
00:29but it was extermination. I remember hearing it when I was growing up. California natives are
00:35extinct. But what the history books leave out is that California Indian people are extremely resilient
00:42and extremely strong. Cut, cut, cut. No, no, no, no, no. That's not right at all.
00:48Why did you say you learned how to dance? My grandfather.
00:54The mission's aimed to dominate. This is our home. Take it back.
00:59Native peoples are looked at as obstacles to what settlers want.
01:04They will send a message. The Tawarichi will not move from our land.
01:10You will forget your savage ways and you will learn how to be civilized.
01:15And there is now a new threat. Turning out negative tropes about Indian people.
01:20Tell your story. Tell it to anyone who will listen.
01:23During the occupation of Alcatraz, Native American religions were still illegal.
01:29For me, this is freedom. The freedom to let people know what really happened.
01:34And it's important for me to tell this story.
01:37We ask the creator to give us strength to talk about things that nobody wants to hear.
01:42We ask the creator to give us the strength to reveal things that were against us that made us stronger.
01:49So we can move forward for everyone.
01:53Oh.
01:55I'm ready.
01:57I'm ready.
01:58I'm ready.
02:02I'm ready.
02:07I'm ready.
02:08I'm ready.
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