About the Film

Produced as an independent production Walking in Two Worlds explores the human history of the Tongass in Southeast Alaska.  This is America’s largest temperate rainforest that covers 17 million acres, also one of the world’s ecological wonders. The Tlingit and Haida tribes are also a part of this forest since time immemorial and whose cultures are vibrant today.

A five year long project, this 1 hour documentary captures the story of Tlingit ancestral rituals, their matriarchal society rooted in their animal clans and their subsistence traditions.   The story is about a Tlingit brother and sister who with their mother adapted to western values and what consequences these values had for them, for their tribe, and for the forest.

  Today the Tongass forest continues to be the center of controversy because of US Forest Service timber sales that promote clearcutting practices of its valuable old growth trees.   Almost one million acres have already been clearcut from this forest since the 1950s. Yet more proposed clearcuts now threaten the remaining old growth forest and its sensitive wildlife habitats.   Conservation is a key solution to protect this unique forest for future generations.