Local, USA

Indie Films Series / 8 Seasons

Culled from public television stations and independent producers from across the country, LOCAL, USA is a half-hour series featuring fascinating stories of diverse people, curated around a single theme.

26m 49s / TV-PG

Firelighters: Fire is Medicine | Trailer

1m 21s / TV-PG

For centuries, most landscapes in North America were shaped by fire between lightning strikes and Indigenous burns. Indigenous people had deep knowledge of the art of using fire, and still do today. FIRELIGHTERS follows the work of women leaders from the Yurok and Karuk Tribes who are building resources to share indigenous practices and create policies to take back indigenous burning rights.

Firelighters: Fire is Medicine | Preview

30s / TV-PG

For centuries, most landscapes in North America were shaped by fire between lightning strikes and Indigenous burns. Indigenous people had deep knowledge of the art of using fire, and still do today. FIRELIGHTERS follows the work of women leaders from the Yurok and Karuk Tribes who are building resources to share indigenous practices and create policies to take back indigenous burning rights.

Scha'nexw Elhtal'nexw Salmon People: Preserving a Way of Life | Trailer

1m 12s / TV-PG

Despite wildfire smoke and a depleting fishery, Lummi families fish for sockeye salmon. The film, which explores the deep spiritual and cultural connection between the Lummi and salmon, lifts values of respect, gratitude and sharing as they are passed onto the next generation. Through the Scha'nexw Elhtal'nexw, the Salmon People, we learn that protecting salmon and this lifeway is a full-time job.

Scha'nexw Elhtal'nexw Salmon People: Preserving a Way of Life | Preview

30s / TV-PG

Despite wildfire smoke and a depleting fishery, Lummi families fish for sockeye salmon. The film, which explores the deep spiritual and cultural connection between the Lummi and salmon, lifts values of respect, gratitude and sharing as they are passed onto the next generation. Through the Scha'nexw Elhtal'nexw, the Salmon People, we learn that protecting salmon and this lifeway is a full-time job.

Inundation District | King Tide

59s / TV-PG

High tides are not what they used to be as sea levels continue to rise year after year. In Boston, what are also known as king tides are now flooding the made land that residents and visitors walk on, and live in, in neighborhoods like the Seaport district.

Inundation District | Projecting Sea Level Rise

2m 10s / TV-PG

Dr. Ellen Douglas, an Associate Professor of Hydrology at UMass Boston, explains how climate change and rising sea levels will impact Boston, its coastline and its residents. In reports from over the past 15 years, the projections show exponential rise through the year 2100 and as Douglas says, "we need to be prepared for it."

Inundation District | Boston's Made Land

3m 29s / TV-PG

Did you know that Boston was once a peninsula connected by a thin stretch of land? Historian and author Nancy S. Seasholes walks through the history of the coastal capital from made land by landfill to why the city, especially its Seaport district, is vulnerable to sea levels rising and therefore, flooding.

Inundation District | Trailer

1m 18s / TV-PG

In a time of rising seas, one city spent billions of dollars erecting a new waterfront district - on landfill, at sea level. Unlike other places imperiled by climate change, this community with some of the world’s largest companies was built well after scientists began warning of the threats. The city called its new neighborhood the Innovation District. Others are calling it INUNDATION DISTRICT.

Inundation District | Preview

29s / TV-PG

In a time of rising seas, one city spent billions of dollars erecting a new waterfront district - on landfill, at sea level. Unlike other places imperiled by climate change, this community with some of the world’s largest companies was built well after scientists began warning of the threats. The city called its new neighborhood the Innovation District. Others are calling it INUNDATION DISTRICT.

Silence in Sikeston | Meet the Makers

16m 10s / TV-PG

WORLD's Chris Hastings talks with KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony about SILENCE IN SIKESTON. They discuss how the film and podcast examine racial violence, trauma and silence following the deaths of two Black men in one Missouri community, and exposes how the health of residents were affected. Anthony also opens up about her own family's intersection with police violence.

Silence in Sikeston | In the Aftermath of Trauma

56s / TV-PG

Rhonda Council talks with her grandmother Mable Cook about the lynching of Cleo Wright and her response to witnessing the violence while fellow Sikeston resident Larry McLellon shares his experience as a young Black man during that time.

Segregation Scholarships | Rosenwald Schools

1m 32s / TV-PG

Founded by Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald, the Rosenwald Schools were built to educate young Black children in the American South. The educator and philanthropist, who were from two different walks of life but understood supremacy and persecution because of their race and faith, collaborated on this program to advance education when it was segregated between Black and white students.

Silence in Sikeston | Beyond the Lens with Cara Anthony

8m 12s / TV-PG

Cara Anthony talks about SILENCE IN SIKESTON and the exploration of health - physical, mental and emotional - when trauma lives in the body. The KFF Health News Midwest correspondent shares how working on the project revealed a piece of family history that parallels the racial violence and silence seen and talked about in the film and podcast.

Segregation Scholarships | Investing in Black Education

1m 14s / TV-PG

In Southern and bordering states, Black Americans were left out of post-baccalaureate education. To study in the North where they would be welcomed, taxes turned scholarships were given to students by these states. But the opportunity hid the fact that segregation in education remained.

Silence in Sikeston | Before Lynching Became a Crime

56s / TV-PG

In 1942, Cleo Wright was lynched by a white mob before Sikeston, Missouri's Black community. Wright's death was the first federally investigated lynching but not before 3,842 had occurred around the country. Before the 2022 Emmett Till Antilynching Act, an anti-lynching campaign that began in the late 1800s, and led by Ida B. Wells, the NAACP and many activists, aimed to make the offense a crime.

Silence in Sikeston | Preview

30s / TV-PG

The story of how the 1942 lynching of Cleo Wright - and the subsequent failure of the first federal attempt to prosecute a lynching - continues to haunt the small city of Sikeston, Missouri. Then, in 2020, the community is faced with the police killing of a young Black father. The film SILENCE IN SIKESTON explores the necessary questions about history, trauma, silence and resilience over 78 years.

Silence in Sikeston | Trailer

1m 17s / TV-PG

The story of how the 1942 lynching of Cleo Wright - and the subsequent failure of the first federal attempt to prosecute a lynching - continues to haunt the small city of Sikeston, Missouri. Then, in 2020, the community is faced with the police killing of a young Black father. The film SILENCE IN SIKESTON explores the necessary questions about history, trauma, silence and resilience over 78 years.

Silence in Sikeston | Love & Grief for a Young, Black Father

59s / TV-PG

In 2020, Denzel Taylor's life was cut short in a police shooting. His mother, Jean Kelly, shares pieces of his story as a son, father and young, Black man who had much more to give to his loved ones in Chicago and Sikeston.

Silence in Sikeston | Witnesses to a Lynching

59s / TV-PG

Carleen Harrington and Mable Cook were only girls growing up in Sikeston, Missouri when Cleo Wright was lynched by a white mob in front of the Black community. The violence of that 1942 day haunted these two young residents, and the small city, for decades leaving them silent to the situation. Now, they are sharing how the experience affected them.

Segregation Scholarships | Traveling North from Jim Crow South

1m 28s / TV-PG

Black Americans, who pursued a post-baccalaureate education in the North, traveled by train to their respective colleges and universities from the South. But what they endured on the trains, and in the waiting rooms, would be considered a less than second-class citizen experience.

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