FHFF Lifetime Achievement Award – Elouise Cobell

Lifetime Achievement Award – Elouise Cobell

This is the third in a 3-part series on this year’s Friday Harbor Film Festival. See part 1 here; see part 2 here…

This year’s coveted Andrew V. McLaglen Lifetime Achievement Award is being presented posthumously to Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet Tribal community leader and an advocate for Native American self-determination and financial independence.

The choice of Cobell as the award recipient reflects the broader mission of the Friday Harbor Film Festival — an event intended to shine light on stories and people who make a difference in our world. Because First Nations people in our country are still fighting for their land and their rights, it seemed appropriate for us to honor a woman who bravely took on our federal government with unrelenting spirit, ultimately prevailing in her landmark class action lawsuit against the government for its gross mismanagement of the mineral-rich lands that had been stolen from the Native peoples. The historical settlement of the case restored tribal homelands to her beloved Blackfeet Nation and to many other tribes.

Cobell’s compelling story is told in the film 100 Years: One Woman’s Fight for Justice, which is being screened during this year’s Festival. Melinda Jenko, the filmmaker, is here and will be accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Cobell and her family.

100 Years follows Cobell on the Blackfeet reservation as she tends to her cattle on the ranch, manages the lawsuit against the U.S. federal government from her tiny Blackfeet Development Office, attends a local powwow, testifies before Congress, and travels across the country to speak eloquently about the importance of participating in the fight for justice.

In November of 2016, Elouise Cobell was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama. This award is the nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

You can support the San Juan Update by doing business with our loyal advertisers, and by making a one-time contribution or a recurring donation.