Navajo film triggers uranium cleanup

Navajo film triggers uranium clean up

The Return of Navajo BoyAn internationally acclaimed documentary film, The Return of Navajo Boy, tells a Navajo family history involving Hollywood, a real trading post in Monument Valley, houses made out of uranium, and a long lost boy.

Jeff Spitz, the filmmaker, and Elsie May Begay, the Navajo grandmother in the film, crisscross the nation showing the film and telling the story. Spitz continually updates the environmental justice story with 'webisodes', short videos filmed by Navajos and posted online. Working through the non-profit he co-founded, Groundswell Educational Films, Spitz raises awareness through the media, websites, and live events. The film and public engagement campaign are credited with triggering a federal investigation into uranium poisoning, pressuring changes in federal legislation, and after a decade of persistence, inspiring the EPA to clean up uranium contamination at Elsie Begay's home area.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Native Documentaries and News.

Below:  "A film crew captures the construction of a Uranium holding pit sparked by the movie."