Tuesday, April 18, 5:00PM-6:30PM ET

Bounty, part of the Upstander Project's Dawnland film series, reveals the hidden story of the Phips Proclamation, one of many scalp-bounty proclamations used to exterminate Native people in order to take their land in what is now New England. In the film, Penobscot parents and children resist erasure and commemorate survival by reading and reacting to the government-issued Phips Proclamation’s call for colonial settlers to hunt, scalp, and murder Penobscot people.

Following the screening, moderator Jared Lank, Mi’kmaq documentary filmmaker, will engage a panel conversation featuring Dawn Neptune Adams, Penobscot filmmaker and journalist, Sunlight Media Collective, Bounty co-director/participant; Zev Bliss, Educator for Portland Public Schools; and Mishy Lesser, Learning director, at Upstander Project, co-director of the Upstander Academy, and Emmy® award-winning researcher.

PANELISTS

Dawn Neptune Adams

Dawn Neptune Adams (Penobscot Nation) (she/her) is a filmmaker and journalist with Sunlight Media Collective, and co-director of and a participant in Bounty. She is an Upstander Project collaborator. Her grassroots environmental activism began with the protection of Indigenous Sacred sites in Huntington Beach, CA in 1998. Since then, she has been a tireless advocate for environmental justice and Indigenous rights at the tribal, local, state, and national levels. Dawn is actively involved in politics for change across a wide spectrum of influences. She is a Racial Justice Consultant to the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine; an active member of Racial Equity & Justice of Bangor, Maine; and a former Indigenous Peoples' Policy Advisor for the Hunter/Elias 2020 Presidential campaign. Dawn has served as the Wabanaki Liaison to the Maine Independent Green Party since 2016 and was the Vice Presidential Candidate to the Dario Hunter 2020 Presidential campaign.

Zev Bliss

Zev was born in the Dawnland. They grew up as a student in Portland Public Schools, and are proud to have returned home to teach. They are passionate about their students, social and economic justice, and education's liberatory potential and responsibility. They are honored to be a part of PPS's Wabanaki Studies work.

Mishy Lesser

Mishy Lesser, Ed.D., (she/her) is the learning director for Upstander Project, co-director of the Upstander Academy, and an Emmy® award-winning researcher. Mishy has authored Upstander Project’s many learning and viewer guides and is a Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies Affiliate. She is a Circle Keeper and has been featured on WBUR (Boston) and PRI/BBC’s The World. Mishy was a Fulbright Scholar in Ecuador and spent 12 years learning and working in the Andes. She is a descendant of Ashkenazi Jews whose ancestral language is Yiddish and lives with her husband in the territory of the Massachusett Tribe.

Jared Lank

Jared Lank is a Mi'kmaq documentary filmmaker. He earned his BA in Geography-Anthropology and a Masters of Public Policy, Planning and Management at USM. His work investigates traditional folk and occult knowledge of the Wabanaki, focusing on traditional ecological knowledge and life ways focusing on Indigenous resilience and cultural continuity in the Waponahkik. Currently, his work is on display at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art’s 2023 Biennial exhibition through May 7, 2023 in Rockland; one of 35 artists selected from 423 applicants. In 2021 he was also chosen as a member of the 4th World Media Lab cohort, a partnership between Nia Tero, SIFF, Big Sky Film Festival, and Points North Foundation that supports Indigenous filmmakers globally. He has worked with Nia Tero and Upstander Project on films in the Reciprocity project and on Upstander Project film Bounty, that reveals the hidden story of the Phips Proclamation, one of many scalp-bounty proclamations used to exterminate Native people in order to take their land in what is now New England. Jared is a tribal advisor for the Portland Public School’s Wabanaki curriculum development, aiding in both film production and curriculum structuring. He is currently developing a short documentary about Casco Bay.