Film Description
Helping to tell the cinematic story are traditional Iroquois Social Dancers, Garth Fagan Dancers with narration by Grammy winning singer-songwriter Joanne Shenandoah, voice overs by Haudenosaunee actors, and original artwork by G. Peter Jemison. The music combines traditional Haudenosaunee singers and original music by composer Brent Michael Davids. The animation team was lead by Cathleen Ashworth of Rochester Institute of Technology.
This film's story is based on Seneca Chief John Arthur Gibson’s account, later annotated by Seneca John Mohawk. According to oral tradition, far above earth in Sky World, the Great Celestial Tree providing light and food for the Sky World inhabitants begins to fade. The keeper of the tree dreams that the people uproot the Great Tree, renewing their world. When the Great Tree is uprooted, a large hole is produced through which a young pregnant woman falls, landing on the back of a turtle. A new world, Turtle Island, is created. Eventually, Sky Woman's grandsons, twins Flint and Sky Holder, create everything on the earth and then battle for control.