The first film in Esselen language.

A discussion with a pelican on the shore who is announcing the funeral dance of its kelp forest to a Ohlone Costanoan Esselen Nation woman.

This project illustrates communication and collaboration possible between living species. Plants, ani- mals and human beings, all inhabitants of the Earth, together, all in search of our survival in the Anthropocene, a time where 90% of kelp forest of California has disappeared , together aware of our interdependent existence. This communication is in rhizome* in order to lead to an evolution of environmental consciousness.

It is a narrative about a marine ecosystem in danger, narrated by a pelican calling for help.
Will we be able to protect the seaweed, which we all depend on to survive? Together, the kelp forest, the pelican, and the Native American woman weave a sensitive relationship of trust to spread the ocean’s warning. The sharing of ecological knowledge is an important response to the crises in which our lives are entangled.

*rhizome: a structure constantly evolving in all horizontal directions and devoid of levels. A method of existence used for millennia by indigenous peoples as described by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari.

Experimental film by Kalie Granier in collaboration with Ohlone Costanoan Esselen Nation’s Alexandria Casares and tribal chairwoman Louise Ramirez, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, The Nature Conservancy.

Translation in Esselen: Chairwoman Louise J. Miranda Ramirez and Alexandria Casares from the Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen Nation.

Louise J. Miranda Ramirez is Tribal Chairwoman of the Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen Nation (OCEN). OCEN is a historically documented, previously recognized tribe. OCEN is the legal tribal government representative for over six hundred enrolled members of Esselen, Carmeleno, Monterey Band, Rumsen, Chalon, Soledad Mission, San Carlos Mission and/or Costanoan Mission Indian descent of Monterey County. All OÇEN Tribal Members are the indigenous people of Greater Monterey County, California, with proof of ancestry documented in original recordings found in Carmel Mission and Soledad Mission. Louise is Esselen, Chumash and Yaqui. She is the Great-Granddaughter of Thomas Santos Miranda and Inez Agnez Garcia Miranda, each Esselen and recorded as the Monterey Band of Monterey at the Sur Rancheria in 1906. As Chairperson her greatest responsibility is the cultural protection of OCEN Ancestors.