The Red Mountain Dwellers, a recent documentary produced by the University of Nevada's Oral History Program (UNOHP) in conjunction with Teaching & Learning Technologies (TLT), premiered in McDermitt on November 3, 2006 for the Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone people who participated in the project.

The film, begun in 2003, explores the life and experiences of Native Americans in the Fort McDermitt area since the reservation was established in 1936, documenting connections between the people, their natural environment, and traditional culture. Narrator Betty Crutcher introduces the history of her people after Euro-Americans began moving into this lonely region on the Nevada-Oregon border. The film opens with memories of a U.S. military post being built there that was later abandoned, and it comes full circle to how this land is today used as part of the Fort McDermitt Reservation.

Sections of the documentary focus on seasonal subsistence gathering (including the digging and processing of yapa, or wild potatoes), the impact of Euro-American settlement in the region, the emphasis on language education in the schools, and the newer cultural traditions of rodeos and pow wows. Featured participants include Donald Barr, Theodore Brown, Betty Crutcher, Evelyn Crutcher, Herman Crutcher, and Mike Hanley, with performances by children from a local kindergarten class and the Black Rock Pow Wow Dancers.

Produced and directed by JoAnne Peden in collaboration with associate director and editor Mark Gandolfo of TLT and executive producer Tom King, the work was funded in part by grants from Nevada Humanities and the Sven and Astrid Liljeblad Fund.

For more information, please contact the UNOHP at 775/784-6932.