Doctrine of Recovery – Green Film Series

As part of our 20th year anniversary celebration, The Marjorie Luke Theatre has created a Green Film Series. Throughout 2024 we will be offering films, panel discussions, speakers and art-exhibits with environmental themes. We will be focusing on environmental issues facing California, and primarily the Central Coast.

Please join us at the Marjorie Luke Theatre for our second film in our Green Series. The Santa Barbara premiere of The Doctrine of Recovery traces the roots of the colonial conquest of North America to the so-called “Doctrine of Discovery,” which was issued by the Pope in 1493 and which justified the dispossession of Native populations from the lands of North America. Through the voices of four Indigenous women, the film uncovers this little-known history and advocates for a “Doctrine of Recovery” to restore social and environmental justice, reestablish harmony with the Earth, revive the sacred feminine, and ensure the survival of our species. Directed by Indigenous filmmaker Brisind (Somebody’s Daughter) and produced by former Santa Barbaran Leslee Goodman, along with Georgina Lightning of Tribal Alliance Productions, the film features an all-female cast and celebrates sacred feminism.

Three generations of Tribal women—Casey Camp-Horinek (Reservation Dogs, Avatar: The Last Airbender), Crystle Lightning (Trickster, Yellowstone), Juliet Langley Hayes (Say Her Name), and Belinda Bull Shoe—unapologetically expose the influence of founding patriarchs and white supremacy in places most never thought to look, and in doing so demonstrate the ongoing and devastating formula patterned by the Doctrine of Discovery. The film won the Indigenous Futures Award from the 2023 Social Justice Film Festival; the Feature Documentary Award from the 2023 Dreamspeakers’ International Film Festival; and has received Official Selection Laurels from Red Nation International Film Festival, Imaginative Film Festival, Docs Without Borders, and others.

The event will open with a Native American prayer, followed by the 75-minute screening of the film “Doctrine of Recovery” and a panel discussion with producer Leslee Goodman and special guest film actor and Ponca elder Casey Camp-Horinek.

Casey Camp-Horinek is known for Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024), Reservation Dogs (2021-2023), Behind the Door of a Secret Girl (2014), Barking Water (2009), and DreamKeeper (2003).