ALEUT STORY
Documentary
86 minutes
Directed by Marla Williams
Narrated by EMMY® winner Martin Sheen
Film provided by Native American Public Telecommunications, www.visionmaker.org

From isolated internment camps in Southeast Alaska to Congress and the White House, this is the incredible, untold story of Aleut Americans decades-long struggle for human and civil rights. Richly textured with all the elements of great human drama - war, suffering, sacrifice, faith, self-discovery and renewal -Aleut Story is a poignant and timely film about the least known chapters of the American civil rights experience.

Virtually unknown to their countrymen, Aleut Americans are given voice for the first time by this powerful and provocative film. Featuring compelling, intimate interviews with Aleut internment survivors - many speaking out for the first time in more than 60 years - Aleut Story will engage and inspire public television viewers.

Aleut Story also presents powerful performances by EMMY® winner Martin Sheen and GRAMMY® winner Mary Youngblood, the voice talent of John Hurley (J. Peterman, Seinfeld) and the late Gov. Jay Hammond of Alaska.

As World War II invaded Alaska, Aleut Americans were taken from their homes and removed to abysmal government camps 1,500 miles away. As the Aleuts prayed for deliverance, friendly forces looted their homes and churches in the Aleutian and Pribilof islands. Those who survived would fight for their rights in the nation's courts and on Capitol Hill.

Only through the telling of this story will our nation truly regain that part of itself which was lost.

excerpted from American Indian Film Institute, San Francisco