The Story
Holder of the Sky is a modern-day American story of colonization that documents three Wisconsin Tribes' battle to reclaim the historic treaty promises made to them in the face of longstanding racism and lingering land lust.
The Oneida tribe of Wisconsin’s creation story is a tale of two twins competing for two very different ways of life. Formed in the Sky World, the right-handed twin would grow to pave a peaceful path living in harmony with all living things, while the left-handed twin plotted one of destruction. And when goodness prevailed, the right-handed twin earned Oneida’s fabled namesake, Holder of the Sky.
Holder of the Sky follows three Wisconsin tribal members: an Oneida farmer, an Ojibwe spearfisher and a Menominee logger. Over the course of the film, they compete with the contemporary manifestation of left-handed forces: land and resource mismanagement and anti-Indian sentiments and hate groups. The realities of present-day tribal members have been shaped by legacies of land loss and broken promises. Yet, their everyday lives are filled with acts of resistance.
A contemporary Sky World reveals motivations for peace or destruction as the three tribal members try to honor their traditional lifeways but are met with opposition at every turn. From rural Wisconsin, Holder of the Sky brings us the voices of people who are a vital part of the American story but are grossly overlooked in so much of it.