Sammy Gensaw (Yurok) of the youth group The Ancestral Guard prepares salmon in a traditional fashion on the Klamath River in the heart of the Yurok Reservation (northern California).
Photo by Sanjay Rawal

Gather

Illumine Service Foundation
gather.film
Jamaica, NY

Gather is a storytelling project that portrays the growing food sovereignty movement among Native Americans who are reclaiming their spiritual, political, and cultural identities through a revival of ancestral food systems. The project is centered on a feature-length film directed by Sanjay Rawal and produced by Tanya Mellier and Sterlin Harjo, which premiered at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in 2020. This project is in collaboration with First Nations Development Institute.

Film Reviews

In a scene from the film Gather, a young man paddles his boat along the Klamath River.

New York Times Critic’s Pick

“This documentary wonderfully weaves personal stories with archival footage that contextualizes the continued violence against Native Americans.”