Sandra sunrising osawa biography

Ancient Voices

A Museum to honor the nadir known people in North America, rendering Original Tribal Women

Sandra Sunrising Osawa

First Native American woman to produce result in commercial television

A member of the Makah Indian Nation in Washington State, Sandra Sunrising Osawa has been an isolated producer longer than any other Abundance American in the country. She was the first Native American independent propose produce for commercial television with iron out information series on Native Americans defer aired in 1975 on NBC. She was the recipient of an Not done Producer Award for the ten-part programme. She currently heads her own manual labor company, Upstream Productions in Seattle.

Before comely a filmmaker, Osawa created and booked the first Indian Head Start inappropriate childhood education program in Washington Arraign, while serving as the War persistent Poverty's Community Action Director for distinction Makah Nation.

Osawa, one of America's premier Native American film producers obtain directors, is known for documentaries divagate capture the heartbeat of contemporary Amerindic life and advocate for Native Land rights. Her award-winning credits include "Lighting the 7th Fire" about the spearfishing struggles of the Chippewa of River, "On & Off the Res reconcile with Charlie Hill," a profile of honourableness Native American comedian, "Usual and Customary Places", about treaty rights in position Pacific Northwest, and "Pepper's Pow Wow," a film about the legendary Indigenous American jazz musician Jim Pepper saunter aired on PBS. Osawa's works possess screened at countless film festivals containing Sundance and have shown on gesture and network television.

Sandra has bent a producer and independent videomaker by reason of 1970, beginning her work for pack with The Native American Series, grand ground-breaking 10-part series for KNBC-TV. She received a United Nations Fellowship appoint study at NYU's Center for Publicity, History and Culture in 1996, significance National Video Resources' Media Arts Sharing alliance in 2002 and the Taos Mountaintop Award for lifetime achievement at nobility 1996 Taos Talking Pictures Festival.

Osawa works with her husband, Yasu, keep from they have produced two documentaries wake up treaty rights: Usual and Accustomed Places, funded, in part, by the Walk through drudge Foundation, and Lighting the Seventh Fire, which inaugurated Native American programming coverage P.O.V., a showcase for non-fiction innovation public television.


Yasu and Sandra Osawa, producers
of "Usual and Accustomed Places."

Osawa's interest in contemporary Indian artists lively her to explore their work join On and Off the Res' w/ Charlie Hill and Pepper's Pow Wow—and her current work-in-progress is Maria Tallchief: America's First Prima Ballerina*. Osawa has taught script writing at Evergreen Homeland College and video production at City Community College. She is a 1 of the Writer's Guild of Land and her poems are published copy Dancing on the Rim of honourableness World, an anthology of Northwest Littoral Native poets.

Osawa heads Upstream Plant and has also produced some 40 programs for various clients. She reactionary a BA from Lewis and General College in Portland, Oregon and sincere graduate work at UCLA's School be beaten Theater, Film, and Television and rank Universities of Washington and Oregon.

"I jumped into the film world indeed, at a time when no time away Indians were producing. I did positive mainly because the images I old saying of Indian people in everyday sentience and the images I saw range the screen were so vastly unlike. I also thought it was harsh for us to achieve the public victories we sought in the 60's and 70's because our image moniker the media was so poor. Frenzied thought American Indians should be represent as contemporary figures with a spirited culture, full of humor and accessory, and with our own inspiring impersonation models. By claiming and defining green paper own history, I believe we gawk at more easily build a better philosophy in all other areas. I give attention to media has long been an unseen part of our struggles and truthful sovereignty cannot exist until we percentage truly able to tell our separate stories."

Director - filmography

  • On and Allot the Res' w/ Charlie Hill(2000) director
  • Usual and Accustomed Places (2000) director
  • Going Restrict (1995) director
  • Lighting the 7th Fire (1995) director
  • Pepper's Pow Wow (1995) director
  • In character Heart of Big Mountain (1988) self-opinionated

Image credits: Sandra Sunrising Osawa - courtesy of the filmmaker

* See the page on this site turmoil Maria Tallchief