Dawnland Wins an Emmy® Award
From left: Adam Mazo, Ben Pender-Cudlip, Esther Anne (Passamaquoddy), Tracy Rector (Choctaw/Seminole), Denise Altvater (Passamaquoddy), and Mishy Lesser moments after winning the Emmy. | Photo: Marc Bryan-Brown Photography
We are pleased to announce that DAWNLAND, our scheduled film for October, is the winner of the Emmy® award for Outstanding Research. The Upstander Project film won the Emmy at the 40th annual News and Documentary Awards. The film’s composer Jennifer Kreisberg was also nominated for Outstanding Music at the ceremony, hosted by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and held at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City on Tuesday, September 24th.
Accepting the Emmy award, co-director and producer Adam Mazo said, “DAWNLAND is a story for the Wabanaki people — the people of the dawn land. Our film presents testimony from Wabanaki people who are being separated from their families, nations, tribes, and communities by Euro-American settlers like me. The greatest recognition belongs to the Wabanaki people who have lived that experience and showed immense courage in telling their stories or holding them in their hearts.”
The Upstander Project learning director Dr. Mishy Lesser shares the Emmy award for Outstanding Research with co-director Ben Pender-Cudlip, and editor Kristen Salerno. Lesser said, “This award applauds researchers everywhere, those who scour ignored documents and transcripts for clues that tell a fuller story. We kept digging until we found archival images and hidden information, and appreciate the Academy’s recognition of our effort.”
It was heartening for the team to be honored for the years of journalistic research and fact-checking that they put into the film. They are proud participants in growing and strengthening the field of independent filmmakers who are telling vital underreported stories, through ethical co-creation and collaborative practices, for and with the communities being documented.
This public recognition can only help build more support for Wabanaki people and encourage non-Native people to see and discuss the film, while learning about the relationship between the taking of the land by settlers and the taking of the children by state child welfare officials. At this time, the taking of children continues.