Director Mike Bradley
Indigenous reservations in America face incredible challenges, such as but not limited to poverty, unemployment, and lack of access to resources like healthcare and housing. While some reservations are working to diversify their economies and gain land, many are struggling with the legacy of historical injustices and ongoing systemic inequalities that include violence directed against them.
Director Mike Bradley, Who Also Is THIS LAND’s Producer, Writer and Cinematographer: “While on a camping trip at Moss Lake, in New York’s Adirondack Mountains in 2022, I stumbled upon a historic marker that included a single sentence about the Mohawks who’d occupied the land in the 1970s.”
“As I learned more about these traditionalist Mohawks and their goals when they arrived at Moss Lake, I came to believe that they had been largely misunderstood in the contemporaneous press coverage and in the local consciousness. In THIS LAND, I attempt to provide the avenue for them to tell the story for themselves for the first time.”
In 1974, Mohawk families in an Upstate New York community wanted to escape the scourge that plagues so many indigenous reservations, so, they took over an abandoned girls’ camp at Moss Lake in the Adirondacks. They established Ganienkeh, whose name means “Land of the Flint.” The families asserted their right to live traditionally and to reclaim ancestral territory.
The occupation led to a tense three-year standoff with New York State authorities but culminated in a negotiated land swap in 1977. Ganienkeh to this day remains a rare example of Indigenous land reclamation in the United States.
The Buzz in Film Grapevines About Filmmaker Mike Bradley: A standout for compelling nonfiction storytelling, blending journalistic integrity with cinematic artistry. His background as a photojournalist for top tier news publications like the New York Times informs his approach to documentary filmmaking, emphasizing authenticity and emotional depth.
His storytelling is characterized by a deep focus on real people and their experiences and highlights underrepresented voices and social issues. He belongs to that pantheon of ethnographers drawing on intimate interviews as well as crafting visually and emotionally resonant imagery: His work often explores themes of community, identity, and resilience, aiming to foster empathy and understanding through the power of visual storytelling.
What This Reviewer Says About THIS LAND: In the opening moments of the film, the story unfolds like the start of a straight forward account of bygone days – eventually transcending mellifluously into what resonates like an epic cinematic poem for a persuasive, telling, 20 minutes, ending with the finish of a feature-length film. A fly-on-the-wall minimalist style with archival news stories and news pictures, personal interviews and photogenic, bucolic settings result in seductive irresistible story telling. THE LAND belongs in that filmmaking genre with films – short or long – that can inspire audiences literally or figuratively to rise up from their seats and …
World Premiere Screenings at 2025 Tribeca Festival
Monday, June 9 at 9 PM
Shorts Theater at Spring Studios
Press/Industry Screening
Friday, June 13 at 1 PM
AMC 19th St. East 6 (Theater 4)
Saturday, June 14 at 11:15 AM
AMC 19th St. East 6
Sunday, June 15 at 5:30 PM
Shorts Theater at Spring Studios
Director, Producer, Writer, Editor, and Cinematographer Mike Bradley in-person for all screenings.
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Click Here for Part 2, the WORD Q&A with Director Mike Bradley
Some Razzle Dazzle About the 2025 Tribeca Fest (Where THIS LAND Will be Screening)
the WORD Editor, Researcher Gregg W. Morris