PBS “Standing Silent Nation”

Friday, August 19, 2011 at 6:30pm

The City of Fort Walton Beach Heritage Park and Cultural Center is presenting a new PBS POV film “Standing Silent Nation” by Courtney Hermann and Suree Towfighnia. This event is being held on Friday, August 19^th at 6:30 pm inside the Indian Temple Mound Museum Lazarus Education Center. It is free and open to the public. This film screening is a part of Downtown Art Walk in Fort Walton Beach, which is held the third Friday of every month. This event is in collaboration with POV, a PBS award-winning nonfiction film series.

Film Synopsis: What does a family have to endure to create a future for itself? In April 2000, Alex White Plume and his Lakota family planted industrial hemp on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota after other crops had failed. They put their hopes for a sustainable economy in hemp's hardiness and a booming worldwide demand for its many products, from clothing to food. Although growing hemp, a relative of marijuana, was banned in the U.S., Alex believed that tribal sovereignty, along with hemp's non-psychoactive properties, would protect him. But when federal agents raided the White Plumes' fields, the Lakota Nation was swept into a Byzantine struggle over tribal sovereignty, economic rights and common sense. The total run time for this film is 53 minutes.

POV (a cinema term for "point of view") is television's longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films. POV premieres 14-16 of the best, boldest and most innovative programs every year on PBS. Since 1988, POV has presented over 275 films to public television audiences across the country. POV films are known for their intimacy, their unforgettable storytelling and their timeliness, putting a human face on contemporary social issues. This film is a co-presentation of Native American Public Telecommunications. POV airs new independent documentaries on Tuesday nights during the summer and fall: http://www.pbs.org/pov/.

Heritage Park & Cultural Center is located at 139 Miracle Strip Parkway SE.  Museum operating hours for the summer are 12:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, and closed on Sunday. For further information please call 850-833-9595.

The City of Fort Walton Beach Heritage Park & Cultural Center is a community outreach division of the City and is committed to providing area historical educational programming.  Contact number is 833-9595.

City of Fort Walton Beach • 107 Miracle Strip Parkway SW • Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548
Phone - (850) 833-9505 • Fax - (850) 833-9640 • TDD - (850) 833-9925 • www.fwb.org