About the Documentary

Travis, Nick and Cody have been friends almost all their lives, growing up on the Swinomish Reservation in northwest Washington. When they find themselves in trouble with drugs and alcohol, the teens are offered an opportunity to participate in Native Lens, Longhouse Media’s filmmaking program. Figuring it’s better than spending afternoons in drug court, they dream about making a film with car crashes and rap music. But they are asked to make a documentary about the impact of two oil refineries on their tribal community instead.

March Point filmmakers Tracy Rector and Annie Silverstein bring together filmmaking and alternative education through their collaboration with the three young Native Americans. The film assignment sends the boys down a path of historical investigation. Like many young people, Travis, Nick and Cody didn’t know much about their ancestors’ history. By interviewing tribal elders, they learn that most of their land was taken away by the federal government in the Treaty of Point Elliott in 1855, leaving the Swinomish with basic health care, some fishing rights and a small reservation. President Ulysses S. Grant took more land in 1870, a move the tribe considers illegal.

The boys learn that the people now known as the Swinomish flourished on the bounty of the coast of the Pacific Northwest for thousands of years. Clams, crabs and fish were plentiful, and as the tribal saying goes, “When the tide’s out, the table’s set.” But when in the 1950s, Shell Oil built two refineries on land once owned by the tribe, chemicals made their way into the water, tainting the seafood and shellfish that the Swinomish eat daily. And just as the toxins in the water seeped into the food, poverty, drugs and alcohol have seeped into the lives of the families who live there. Ambivalent environmental ambassadors at the onset of the filmmaking venture, the boys awaken to the destruction these refineries have wrought in their communities. Grappling with their assignment through humor, sarcasm and a candid self-knowledge, they begin to experience the need to understand and tell their own stories and to grasp the power of this process to change their lives and give back to their community. March Point follows the boys’ journey on their path from childhood to adulthood as they come to understand themselves, their tribe and the environmental threat to their people.

The Filmmakers

Tracy Rector
Tracy Rector earned her Masters in Education and Teacher Certification from Antioch University’s First Peoples Program. She specializes in Native American Studies, traditional plant medicine and documentary film. As the co-producer of the award-winning films Teachings of the Tree People and The Work of Bruce Miller for the Seattle Art Museum, Tracy has developed an awareness and sensitivity to the power of media and film as a modern storytelling tool. Her work has been featured at National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project and the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian and she is the recent recipient of the prestigious Native American Public Telecommunications Producers grant and Horace Mann Award. As a Native Education specialist, Tracy offers unique insight to her projects. Her vision is to bring traditional and contemporary education together on a foundation based in environmental stewardship. March Point is an example of co-collaborating with youth filmmakers as a process of alternative education and inquiry into the world. She is currently working with the Seattle Art Museum as an education consultant, as a Native Naturalist for the Olympic Sculpture Park and in planning for the new expanded Native American wing of the Seattle Art Museum and the international exhibition S’abadeb—The Gifts: Pacific Coast Salish Art and Artists. Tracy is also currently developing curriculum for IslandWood, an environmental education center. She is the Executive Director and Co-founder of Longhouse Media, an indigenous media arts organization and home of the nationally acclaimed program Native Lens.

Annie Silverstein
Annie Silverstein has been working in the field of filmmaking and youth media for the past eight years. While majoring in history and receiving a BA from Macalester College, Annie worked at Phillips Community Television as the program coordinator of Our Turn, a monthly television show produced by youth about issues affecting them and the Phillips community. She relocated to Seattle in 2002 to direct the Young Producers Project at 911 Media Arts Center, and shortly after, launched the Native Lens program in partnership with the Swinomish Tribe and has since dedicated herself to teaching filmmaking as a form of cultural preservation and social change in the Native community. She continues to write, direct and produce film projects. In 2004 Annie wrote and directed A Jew’s Guide to Christmas, a documentary short that was the sum of many years of relentless holiday envy, which aired on Seattle’s PBS station KCTS and was screened as a Distinguished Feature by the Seattle Art Museum. Other films include Chase Me (writer/director/producer), Sisters of the Good Death (co-producer/cinematographer/editor), and Eu, Selaron (writer/director/producer-currently). In 2007 Annie was the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship for her project Nossas Historias and spent a year in Rio de Janeiro filming, teaching, and studying the impact of youth media programs in a home for orphaned and displaced youth from Rio’s favelas. She is Artistic Director and Co-founder of Longhouse Media, an indigenous media arts organization and home of the nationally acclaimed program Native Lens.

Nick Clark
Nick Clark is a 18-year-old senior at La Conner High School. He is an enrolled tribal member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Oregon and has grown up on the Swinomish reservation with his mother his entire life. Nick started filmmaking and acting with Native Lens in May 2004. Nick had some prior acting experience, landing a role with the school play The Maiden of Deception Pass when he was 11 years old. His first film project was a public service announcement called Native Pride, a powerful short that challenges stereotypes about Native people. His second project, Rez Life, is an award-winning piece about boys struggling with daily life on a reservation. The boys imagine the different paths their lives could take when they find themselves at the crossroads between childhood and adulthood, and realize that the choice is up to them in which direction they want to take. Nick co-wrote, co-directed and acted in both pieces.

Cody Cayou
Cody Cayou is a 18-year-old senior at La Conner High School. He is a half-enrolled Swinomish Tribal member and half-white on his mother’s side. His favorite parts of his culture are going to summer powwows, bone games, canoe pulling and going to the smokehouse. Things took a rough turn when Cody was 10 and he lost his mother. Cody got into drugs, had trouble with the law and ended up failing the seventh grade. Cody turned himself around after going to treatment, which helped him open his eyes and see what he was doing to himself. After returning to the reservation Cody became involved in Native Lens in September 2005, participating on a number of projects. He wrote, directed and starred in a short movie called Searching, about a young man who is looking for something he is missing in his heart in the day-to-day chaos of life. Cody also wrote, directed and starred in a PSA called Fifteen, which examines the temptations of peer pressure and underage drinking. This short film won runner-up in the Cynthia Lickers Award for best talent in the ImagineNative Film Festival.

Travis Tom
Travis Tom is a 18-year-old senior at La Conner High School. He is Swinomish and Lummi and has lived on the Swinomish Reservation his entire life. He enjoys playing basketball, fishing and crabbing, and is a good friend to those around him. He is proud to be a Native American. After his older sister passed away four years ago, Travis started using drugs. He explains, “During that time period I didn’t care about anything; I just wanted to be isolated and left alone.” Travis started working with Native Lens in 2004, as part of his plan to turn his life around—his first project was a PSA called Native Pride. His favorite part of acting and filmmaking is expressing himself to the world. He says that he, Nick and Cody all support each other in keeping on track while participating in Longhouse Media’s Native Lens program together. When asked to describe himself in three words Travis answers, “Quiet, quiet and quiet! And when the camera is on I get even more shy.” But you would never know: Travis’ wit and humor shine onscreen. In his recent film Fifteen, Travis acted as the main character and served as the principal director. He enjoys all aspects of acting and filmmaking and hopes to continue doing both for the rest of his life.

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