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Independent Films for Theatrical Projection, Curriculum. Request theatrical/educational licensing and lesson plans robert@studio-rla.com

Unconquering The Last Frontier

3840x2880/2880P, Digital Projection Print, 4K DCI.

Produced and Directed by Robert Lundahl. Cinematogaphy and Editing by Robert Lundahl. PBS Broadcast and Free Speech TV Cable Documentary.

Narrated by Gary Farmer qnd scored by Tony Saunders with Tower of Power’s Larry Braggs, “Unconquering the Last Frontier” explores the causes and effects of the ongoing salmon crisis in the Pacific Northwest, focusing on the Elwha River.

"Unconquering the Last Frontier" tells the story of “The Damming and Undamming of the Elwha River” in Washington State. It is a profound reflection on ambitions of power and progress in an earlier era, one moved forward in 1915 through illegal actions and the malfeasance of public officials, and one which would ultimately fail, setting destructive precedents across the entire Pacific Northwest. It is also an examination of abuses wreaked upon tribal inhabitants, the film focusing on the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe's struggle to survive in the shadow of hydroelectric development, and their fight to restore the ecosystem and fisheries, which had sustained them since time immemorial.

"Unconquering the Last Frontier" highlights the injustices faced by the tribe and the complex politics surrounding dam removal. The film also explores the broader themes of Native American treaty rights, resource management, and the negative sociological and environmental impacts of dam building on ecosystems and communities.

Produced, Directed, and Edited by Robert Lundahl, with location sound recording by Peter Bettendorf, Scot Charles and Dean Miller (Elwha Klallam), Supervising Producer, Chris Simon, Production Managers, John Lieske and Claire Calvino, Sound Design and Final Mix by Scot Charles, Film Processing, Timing and Final Print by Monaco Labs, San Francisco. See complete credits on film.

Featuring Beatrice Charles (Elwha Klallam), Adeline Smith (Elwha Klallam), Rachel Hagaman (Elwha Klallam), Russ Hepfer (Elwha Klallam), Pete Taylor (Makah), and the Elwha Klallam community.

Technical: 156 400’ camera loads exposed, 62,400 ft. Kodak 7293 Film. French-made Eclair 1.5, ARRI Mount Angenieux 10-150 mm. Zoom, ARRI Mount Angenieux 12-120 mm. Zoom,, ARRI Mount Angenieux 9.5-57 mm. Zoom, Century 600 mm Prime, Double System Nagra 4.2 S, Center Track Time Code. Shoeps Microphones.

Song on the Water, The Return of the Great Canoes

3840x2160/2160P Digital Theatrical Projection Print, 4K.

60 minute National PBS and Canadian TV documentary. In the 1960's Native Americans in the state of Washington were forbidden from fishing in their traditional areas, off the reservations. In what became know as the “Fish Wars,” tribal fishermen were harassed and sometimes beaten by State Police. When the Boalt Decision passed in the U.S. federal courts in 1976, the federal government guaranteed the rights to fish in “usual and accustomed grounds.” But the state often denied access. Finally in a compromise, the state agreed to allow tribes to access traditional fishing grounds if they demonstrated they could access them by traditional means, ocean going canoes.

Lundahl’s award winning ethnographic documentary, “Song on the Water” (2005), takes viewers along with 50 indigenous canoes, their crews, and communities on a modern-day voyage to a traditional potlatch. Filled with beautiful photography and inspiring Coast Salish and Nuu Chah Nulth songs and cultural expressions, the one-hour film explores what the voyage means to the “pullers,” ground crews, and elders who share the waves, the traditions, and a vision of a positive future for Coast Salish and Nuu Chah Nulth youth.

The film was Presented By The Long House Association, Native 501 (C) 3, and President Linda Wiechman (Elwha Klallam), Board Members Sandy Charles (Elwha Klallam), and Lois Durgan (Elwha Klallam). Featuring and Narrated By Johnson Charles Sr. (Elwha Klallam), Alfred Charles Jr. (Elwha Klallam), Darrell Charles (Elwha Klallam), and John Boyd (Elwha Klallam), and many others. Music Score by Chief Frank Nelson (Alert Bay Kwa–Gulth Muskemawg–Tsewateneuk).

Produced and Directed by Robert Lundahl. Cinematography and Editing by Robert Lundahl. Location Sound, Paul Hawxhurst.

Technical: Sony DSR-500 WS DV-Cam, Single and Double System, Sony Walkman Portable DAT. Sennheiser Wireless and Shotgun Mics.

Song On The Water premiered on KCTS 9, Seattle, and has aired over 240 times in over 80 US cities on PBS stations.

Who Are My People?

3840x2160/2160P Digital Theatrical Projection Print, 4K.

In the Mojave desert, the world’s energy companies converge to produce power. They’ve destroyed ecosystems, migrating birds, tortoise, and sacred places from ancient civilizations. Theatrical Screenings 5 States.

The LA Times indicates, we are at a “Flashpoint” between competing value-systems. Bodies have been exhumed, and geoglyphs destroyed, in an area that is a long-term indigenous settlement.

“Who Are My People?” depicts how the world’s energy firms have met their match in a small group of Native American elders, in the hottest desert on the planet. The film takes us behind the scenes of two of the largest solar projects in the world.

Produced and Directed by Robert Lundahl. Cinematography and Editing by Robert Lundahl. Created with the generous support of The Rose Foundation, Juliette Anthony Environmental Consulting, CAre (CAlifornians for Renewable Energy, Mike Boyd), The Rex Foundation, the Protect Our Communities Foundation, The 29 Palms Inn, Paul and Jane Smith.

Featuring and Narrated By: Preston Arrow-weed (Quechan/Kamya), Robert Lundahl, V. John White (Executive Director, CEERT/Center For Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies), Anthony Pico (Viejas Kumeyaay), Alfredo Acosta Figueroa (Yaqui/Chemehuevi), Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, State of California), James Andre PhD (UC Riverside), Reverend Ron Van Fleet (Mojave/Apache), Philip Smith (Chemehuevi), Michael Brune (Executive Director, The Sierra Club), Lowell Bean PhD, Anthropologist/Author.

Music Score by Chuey Zapata Jess Fig, Jesse Figueroa, and Kieth Secola.

Technical: Panasonic AG-HVX200 P2 HD Camcorder, Audio Technica Shotgun Mics. Sennheiser Wireless. Edit Facility: Robert Lundahl and Associates.

Harvest Dreams

3840x2160/2160P Digital Theatrical Projection Print, 4K.

Harvest Dreams is a very beautiful film that profiles four farms and four farming families on Washington’s Olympia Peninsula, as agriculture there transitions from commodity products to niche and organic produce.

Filmmaker Lundahl states, “I felt like this film was an opportunity to explore color and light. I really did not have any plot or objectives in mind, but found one through the lives of the individuals highlighted. It was a very simple theme of trying to find a “cash crop” to keep the farm alive and eek out a living in an area once forested and previously inhabited by Native peoples from the Klallam tribal heritage, fishermen and gatherers from local landscapes and gardens they managed over thousands of years.

While the indigenous populations relied on the natural abundance of the area through prayer and spiritual practice, this has been an area where European descendants were at a disadvantage. However, newcomers have been able to persevere, in many cases, through adaptation to sustainable farming practices, agri-tourism, and by virtue of old fashioned values of “neighbor helping neighbor.” It is, as the title reads, “A Film About Sustaining.”

The film was shot over the course of a year to reveal activities through the change of seasons. It is at once touching and tragic as generations transition and farming practices in general face competition from increasing land costs and housing development that forces some out of the business forever.

Featuring and Narrated By: John and Carmen Jarvis, Finn Hall Farm, Nash Huber, Nash’s Organic Produce, Jeff Brown, Debbie Brown, Sarah Brown, Dungeness Valley Creamery, Cathy and Leon Angel, Angel Farm, Steve Johnson, Lazy J Farm, Curtis Beus, Washington State University Clallam County Extension..

Produced with the generous support of Friends of the Fields. See full credits.

Music: Special Thanks to Arhoolie Records, West Coast Bluegrass, The Maddox Brothers, Rose Maddox.

Liner Notes: "Harvest Dreams" features a West Coast Bluegrass score by the Maddox Brothers and Rose Maddox. She offers a stinging, swinging interpretation of Amazing Grace thats hard to forget.

From the Filmmaker:

“I remembered her as a real young kid driving to school in Pasadena in my mom's T-Bird, tuck and roll and the radio on. Rose Maddox recorded in Hollywood in the late 1950's. My first introduction to real ROCKABILLY.”

Technical: Sony DSR-500 WS DV-Cam. Sennheiser Wireless and Shotgun Mics.

PayDirt

3840 x 2160/2160P Digital Theatrical Projection Print, 4K.

in a plunging economic reality we can rely on insights and lessons from the past, in this case, the non-reality of “liars, theives and hirelings” who escape accountability, cook the books, and promise the unattainable to distract from the truth.

The film is a present day cautionary tale about large scale fraud by institutions of the state, the military and military brass, huckster-clergy, and private enterprise leadership, billionaire CEOs who take advantage for their own benefit, regardless of the consequences to others.

What is Fraud? In this complex story, it is about serious environmental damage at a former US Navy Superfund site, a Top Gun US Marine airbase, and both correspondingly ironic financial fraud and thievery, exposed by a film created with Salem-News.com, Homebuyers of Texas, SF Weekly, GreenAction, and The Law Offices of Angela Alioto.

This honest, yet brutal story is a heavily reflective indictment of government, business and religious leadership, in a devastatingly tragic tale of the coverup of radioactive waste disposal from the Bikini Island nuclear weapons tests of the 1950's, asbestos pollution, and carcinogenic toxins left behind from half hearted and incomplete “clean-up” efforts.

Paydirt is framed around the decommissioning of military bases in California, exculpatory relief, and massive profit-taking amid the Great Recession of 2008-9.

Director's Cut now in 4K UHD, Ultra High Definition.

Please visit https://robertlundahl.com for hard-hitting, unassailable, ecological films, Cinema Verite Radio Episodes and Podcasts, Emmy® Award winning Television, Addy, Cindy, and Silver Screen award recipient shorts, and contemporary environmental journalism.

Get filled in at Unassailable Ecological on Substack for stories and updates.The El Toro segment, one of three, subtitled “Dead Men Tell No Lies,” identifies residual trichlorethylene in the soils of Irvine’s then planned Great Park, on the grounds of the former El Toro Naval Marine Air Station, turned over by the Navy for residential development and childrens’ play areas.

As a result, the film contributed motivation and momentum to the founding of the Non-Toxic Neighborhoods movement, at present, a coalition of groups in over 200 cities. After launching a campaign to raise awareness of the City of Irvine’s pesticide use in late November 2015, the City of Irvine adopted an historic organically driven landscaping policy in February 2016.

Since then the City of Irvine has successfully and organically maintained all pest pressure from weeds to rodents, on more than 570 acres of community and neighborhood parks, athletic fields; over 6,000 acres of open space, over 800 acres of public right-of-way, including street medians and parkways; 70,000 trees; and nearly 1.5 million square feet of facilities.

https://www.ocweekly.com/how-irvine-became-socals-first-non-toxic-city-7317638/

Technical: Panasonic AG-HVX200 P2 HD Camcorder, Audio Technica Shotgun Mics. Sennheiser Wireless. Edit Facility: Robert Lundahl and Associates, Larkspur, CA, Utelevision, Sausalito, CA.