In Between Worlds
Estimated completion: 2027
Amidst climate chaos, the Winnemem Wintu Tribe fights to keep a sacred promise to return their ancestral Chinook salmon to California waters, just as salmon runs across the world are collapsing. Guided by Chief Caleen, they must journey to New Zealand where miraculously, the genetic descendants of their salmon survived.
About the Film
For thousands of years, the Winnemem Wintu Tribe lived along the McCloud River honoring their ancestral covenant with the salmon. A sacred alliance where two species, humans and salmon, helped each other survive.
In 1945, the largest dam in California, the Shasta Dam, permanently blocked the salmon’s path to their spawning grounds and flooded Winnemem Wintu villages, decimating both humans and fish.
After decades of resistance, in 2004, the tribe held a four day war dance on Shasta Dam for the first time in over a hundred years to protest its raise. Just a few days later, a University reached out to them claiming that their salmon have survived half way across the world in the glacier fed waters of Aotearoa, New Zealand. This astonishing fact was foretold by a Winnemem Wintu prophecy and later confirmed by genetic testing, reigniting the tribe’s effort to bring the long lost salmon back to the rivers where they belong.
Primary theme:
Biodiversity & Species Protection
Additional themes:
Indigenous Leadership, Water
Director
Director
Producer
Full Project Budget:
$1,175,076
Funds Still Needed:
$1,047,206
Type of Funding Needed:
Production
Production Status:
Production
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Now, Chief Caleen Sisk must pass on the sacred responsibility of speaking up for the salmon to the next generation of young leaders as they work to bring together two indigenous nations (The Winnemem Wintu and Kāi Tahu Māori), two governments (United States and New Zealand), and two species (humans and salmon).
Can the sacred alliance between salmon and people be restored in the times of extinction?
Impact Goals
Promote the Building of a Volitional Passage
Promote the building of the first ever Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) based volitional passage around the largest dam in California, the Shasta Dam.
Seek Legal Personhood for Salmon and Whales
Seeking legal personhood for salmon and whales, utilizing already established legal frameworks of rights of nature to move beyond human-centered regulation and enable nature to defend its right to exist, flourish, and regenerate. This ambitious goal is already part of a movement that brought together the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Kāi Tahu Māori, and Mauna Kea Protectors in Hawaiʻi.
Unite Salmon People Along the Riverways
Uniting salmon people along the riverways and across the oceans around the common goals of revitalizing salmon and protecting water.
Director’s Statement
Michael Preston
Director
For too long, our voice—the true voice of our people—has remained unheard, our authentic stories untold to the wider world.
This documentary is more than a retelling of events; it’s an act of preservation, an imperative to document and safeguard our cultural and spiritual legacies. At the heart of this narrative is the salmon’s return journey, a powerful metaphor for resilience and unyielding faith. This journey connects us not only to our ancestral lands but also to distant waters in Aotearoa (New Zealand), where our salmon were introduced.
In partnership with Maori relatives, we strive to reclaim what was lost. This story, spanning generations, is one of loss, triumph, and relentless hope. It is a testament to our unbroken connection to the sacred, despite ongoing attempts to erase our existence.
By sharing our journey, we offer a model of grounding in a world that has lost its balance, providing a beacon of hope not just for our future generations but for all indigenous people and, indeed, for humanity itself. We are still here, still believing in the sacred, continuing forward.
This story needs to be told; we have traveled the world to tell it.
To learn more about this project, reach out to nkite@redfordcenter.org and we will put you in touch with the film team.