Looking Toward Home is a one-hour documentary which explains how government relocation programs in the 1950’s enticed significant numbers of Native Americans to leave the reservation for life in major cities such as, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and the San Francisco Bay Area. The life and times of urban Indians is shown primarily through the eyes of these individuals and subsequent generations as they maintain their tribal identity far away from the culturally nurturing climate of the reservation.

To this day, the number of American Indians living in metropolitan areas continues to increase. Narrator Conroy Chino explores the issues facing Native people in urban environments. He illustrates the importance of access to adequate health care, education, as well as the strong sense of community and cultural identity needed to thrive in the big city.

After enjoying s successful year in the native film festival circuit, Looking Toward Home will be seen on public television in November 2004. The program has been previewed by appreciative audiences at the following venues:

Oakland International Film Festival, Oakland, September 2004
NMAI Native Cinema Showcase, Santa Fe, September 2004
Stars in the Desert Native Film Festival, Tuba City, April 2004
Native Voice Film Festival, Rapid City, January 2004
Smithsonian NMAI Film Festival, New York, December 2003
American Indian Film Festival, San Francisco, November 2003
Eastern Cherokee, Southern Iroquois, and United Tribes of South Carolina Native American Film Festival, Columbia, SC, November 2003

Native American Public Telecommunications is proud to present documentary programs produced by and about Native Americans to public television stations in celebration of Native American Heritage month throughout November. NAPT’s mission is to support the creation, promotion, and distribution of Native public media.

More information about this program, and other NAPT services can be found on the web at www.nativetelecom.org. The program is available for purchase at www.visionmaker.org.

Below are resources for stations to use in promoting their carriage of Looking Toward Home.

• The press release for Looking Toward Home is available as .pdf* (27 KB) or word (93 KB) document.
  
• The biographys of producers Conroy Chino and Beverly Morris and director Dale Kruzic are available as both a .pdf* (23 KB) or word (20 KB) document.
  
• A high quality still (example can be seen to your right) from Looking Toward Home is available for download in jpg format: Image 1 (101 KB)

*To read a PDF file, you need an Adobe Acrobat Reader.