Salmon Film Festival

Whitman College's annual Salmon Film Festival celebrates the cultures, advocacy work and environmental stewardship of the Plateau tribes of the Pacific Northwest.

2024 Schedule of Events

All events will take place in Maxey Auditorium unless otherwise noted.

Friday, April 12

• All-day Salmon Bake with Clarice Paul (Wanapum), Lightning Paul (Wanapum) and Kenneth Mathias (Wanapum) on Ankeny Field
• 5:30 p.m. Opening Ceremony with Thomas Morningowl (Umatilla/Blackfeet) in Maxey Auditorium
• 6 p.m. Salmon Dinner in Maxey Auditorium (free; menu includes salmon, cornbread, greens, huckleberry/peach cobbler, and chokeberry-flavored water)*
• 7–8 p.m. “Covenant of the Salmon People” Film Screening
• 8–8:45 p.m. Post-film panel discussion with Nez Perce tribal members, film participants and salmon restoration activists: Nakia Williamson (Cultural Resource Director), Sewas Cloud (WSU student) and the Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe, the Honorable Shannon Wheeler.

Saturday, April 13

• 1 p.m. Native Showcase at the Whitman Women's Lacrosse game vs. George Fox University (on Hayner Field), including a welcome from Miss Pášx̣apa Lindsey Pasena-Littlesky ’26 (CTUIR community member, San Felipe Pueblo, Hopi and Ogala Lakota Nation), a drumming and dancing performance during half time, and complimentary ice cream for all
• 3 p.m. Opening Ceremony with Damien Totus (CTUIR)
• 3:15 p.m. Dance Performances: Tookish Man (Warm Springs Confederated Tribes of Oregon) and 2-Bears (with members of Nez Perce and Plains Cree heritage) will lead the Whitman College community in a ceremonial salmon dance of the Wasco Tribe
• 4:30–6 p.m. Two Film Screenings: "The Lost Fish" with Colleen Sanders, CTUIR Climate Adaptation Planner, and "Umatilla Youth" featuring the CTUIR Youth Council followed by a an in-person discussion with council members
• 7-8:30 p.m. “A Reflection of Life” Film Screening
• 8:30–9:15 p.m. Panel Discussion with Chief of the Walla Walla Tribe Donald Sampson (CTUIR), Acosia Red Elk (CTUIR), and Jeremy Takala (Rock Creek Band of Lower Columbia Tribes, Yakama Nation)
• 9:15–9:30 p.m. Closing Ceremony with Thomas Morningowl and Damien Totus

Salmon Film Festival Committee Members

Lindsey Pasena-Littlesky ’26, Indigenous People's Education and Culture Club (IPECC)
Owen Jakel ’25, IPECC
Henry Roller ’25, Salmon Conservation Club
Gigi Peterson '25, ASWC DEI Chair
Roger Amerman ’80, O'Donnell Visiting Educator in Global Studies
Jeanine Gordon, Special Assistant to the President for Native American Outreach