Groundworks (2022)

Groundworks profiles four of the California Native co-creators of the "Groundworks" project-a collaborative dance performance on Alcatraz Island on San Francisco's first official Indigenous People's Day in October 2018. The one-hour documentary travels from traditional acorn gathering spots to the studios where the "Groundworks" performance was rehearsed before being shared at sunrise on Alcatraz-nearly 50 years after the Indians of All Tribes occupied the island and brought attention to Native American rights. Originally initiated by contemporary dance company Dancing Earth Creations, the "Groundworks" project was designed to amplify the oft-forgotten Native presence anywhere in the Americas. Groundworks weaves together four artists' stories and their contemporary ways of sharing traditional Indigenous knowledge. By exploring these artists' creative practices, Groundworks highlights their contemporary relationships to the Pomo, Ohlone, Tongva, and Wappo/Onastatis territories, languages, and traditions. Their efforts to "re-story" the land through creative reclamation are important facets of the Land Back movement. A critical component of decolonization and Indigenous sovereignty is revealing the hidden, overlapping histories of place through art, performance, and story. Groundworks also considers issues of land management, water rights, and food security-concerns for all Americans, especially in an age of climate change. These issues are particularly acute in Indigenous communities that have called these lands home for millennia, and who remain resilient despite centuries of colonization and marginalization. Profiled in the documentary are Ras K'dee, Pomo, a musician with ties to multiple bands in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties; Bernadette Smith, singer and dancer from the Manchester-Point Arena Band of Pomo Indians; Kanyon Sayers-Roods, a multidisciplinary Ohlone artist from Indian Canyon, a sovereign Indian Nation outside of Hollister, California; and L. Frank, a Tongva-Acjachemen artist, tribal scholar, canoe builder, and language advocate. These artists, through their practices and activism, bring attention to contemporary Indigenous life in California. Groundworks is produced for Vision Maker Media by Toronto-based production company Toasterlab, which is led by Ian Garrett (Groundworks director, producer, and writer) and Justine Garrett (Groundworks producer and writer). The Groundworks documentary production team includes co-producer and writer Tisina Ta-till-ium Parker (Miwuk/Paiute/Kashia Pomo), editor Tia Taurere Clearsky (Nga Puhi/Te Aupouri Nations of Aotearoa-New Zealand), and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Don Schroeder as consulting producer. Groundworks features original music created specifically for the original performance from Ras K'dee, Esmé Olivia, and Bernadette Smith, as well as contributions from K'dee's band Audiopharmacy.