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4/25/25
For Immediate Release
Contacts:
Robert Lundahl
Linda Wiechman (Klallam)
Agence RLA, LLC
415.205.3481
Agence RLA releases **NEW** digital re-master of the film, "Unconquering The Last Frontier" and new website, roberlundahl.com.
Prophetic motion pictures present unassailable arguments for cultural and environmental protection and education
In Recognition of Earth Day/Earth Month, 2025, Agence RLA has released the **NEW** digital re-master of the film, "Unconquering The Last Frontier" and a new website, roberlundahl.com to showcase it.
In the words of Elwha Klallam Elder, Linda Wiechman, "if it wasn’t for (Filmmaker Lundahl) and her aunties (Klallam Elders), Beatrice Charles and Adeline Smith) making the film 'Unconquering and the Last Frontier,' which 'Set in motion' dam removal on the Elwha River, the dams there would not have been removed. She went on to say, '…if it wasn’t for (Filmmaker Lundahl) and her aunties making the film, ‘Unconquering the Last Frontier’, which 'set in motion dam removal on the Elwha River', dams would not have been removed on the Klamath River, either.”
Understanding the importance of the film, Agence has released a series of motion pictures, technically suitable for modern projection systems. They are best described as–
Projection/Theater Ready 2K DCI 1440P AND 1080P Digital Cinema Originals from Emmy® Award winning Filmmaker, Robert Lundahl and Agence RLA, LLC
Four feature length motion picture are available plus a variety of shorts. SEE: https://www.robertlundahl.com/feature-documentaries SEE Also: https://www.robertlundahl.com/
1. Narrated by Gary Farmer, “Unconquering the Last Frontier” explores the causes and effects of the ongoing salmon crisis in the Pacific Northwest, focusing on the Elwha River.
The film tells the story of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe’s struggle to survive in the shadow of hydro-power development. The film has been honored by film festivals around the world, and has been aired nationally on PBS stations and on Free Speech TV.
2.
"Song on the Water” 60 minutes. PBS 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 youth.
Produced and Directed by Robert Lundahl. Cinematogaphy and Editing by Robert Lundahl. Location Sound, Paul Hawxhurst.
3. “Harvest Dreams.”
Harvest Dreams profiles four farms and four farming families on Washington’s beautiful Olympia Peninsula, as agriculture there transitions from commodity products to niche and organic produce.
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.
4. “Who Are My People” 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. The picture has been well received in theatrical screenings five states. It focuses on the federal permitting processes, laws and agencies which allow environmentally and culturally destructive energy projects to be developed without adequate vetting or oversight.
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.
Produced and Directed by Robert Lundahl. Cinematogaphy and Editing by Robert Lundahl.
Lundahl, a one time veteran of Silicon Valley, had seen it from the inside. He consented to an interview with former Clinton White House writer Lura Lee in this piece titled, ”Hippies Turned Yuppies Turned Billionaires.” https://youtu.be/3lp-kg0GDeU?si=IkpfKcKrAVuz8R5w.
As we face policy uncertainties from the federal government in Washington D.C., these prophetic motion pictures stand out as unassailable arguments for cultural and environmental protection and education.
See short bio here: https://www.robertlundahl.com/introduction. See collection of short films here: https://www.robertlundahl.com/short-films
*Liner Notes, 'Unconquering the Last Frontier’ –On the the occasion of what would have been Grateful Dead occasional keyboardist, and solo rock impresario Merl Saunders’ 75th birthday, the San Francisco music scene converged at the Great American Music Hall to celebrate the noted local.
Saunders had grown up in the city nearby to friend Johnny Mathis and was seduced into the Rock and Roll world. Son, Tony Saunders, the Dead’s Bob Weir, Dino Valente Jr., son of Quicksilver Messenger Service frontman Dino Valente Sr., and others joined up on stage to pay tribute.
Tony Saunders (on bass) had scored the soundtrack to Robert Lundahl’s film, “Unconquering the Last Frontier,” along with members of Oakland’s’Tower of Power, in a remarkable testament to the musicianship and range of styles and capabilities of the Saunders extended family.
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