A decades spanning documentary ties the concerns of Paiute
elders to a new generation who are fighting back to regain their
land, water and culture in Eastern California.

Several thousand Native Americans of Paiute-Shoshone descent live in Eastern California. These tribes are raising critical cultural and environmental issues and find themselves engaged in tense negotiations with some of the most powerful institutions in America. "Indian Country - The Rise of a New Culture" is Stephen Fisher's last film. A project spanning generations of Native American families, this documentary connects the concerns of the ancestors and the tribal elders to a proud new generation who are expressing their culture in alternative ways and fighting back to regain their rightful belongings and re-establish their stories.

Archival footage of the Paiute elders was filmed with the support for the California Council for the Humanities .

DIRECTOR: Stephen Jay Fisher specialized in historical, literary, and environmental topics, producing documentary films for public institutions and Public Television for almost forty years. Stephen Fisher Productions has received funding at various times from the California Council for the Humanities, the Strong Foundation, and PBS stations KCET, KTEH, and KQED and has films broadcast on Public Television since 1976, reaching a wide and diverse audience. Awards include an Emmy, a Cindy, a Joey, and a Journalism Award from the Bay Area Press Club, and a Life Sciences and Ecology Award at the National Education Film Festival. "Indian Country: The Rise of a New Culture" was Stephen's final film. Much of his acclaimed work was focused on environmental subjects.

His deep personal concern over the treatment of tribes in Eastern California who were being robbed of their land, water and culture, drove his quest to complete this generation spanning story. He funded and finished filming a few months before he died, and with the generous help of an editor who worked hard to decipher his notes, the documentary was completed posthumously.