DONATE TO HELP PRODUCE THIS FILM

Foundation grants and donations from corporations and individuals are making it possible for us to produce this extraordinary historic documentary film.  A tax-deductible donation in any amount may be sent to our official non-profit sponsor:

Siskiyou Arts Council

418 A North Mount Shasta Blvd 

Mount Shasta, California 96067

siskiyouarts@yahoo.com

530-926-1294                        Click on Logo to Contact the SAC   

MATERIALS COMPILED FOR THIS PROJECT

Media for this film spans a 30 year period of time and includes culturally-significant ethnographic filmings on BetaCam, antique archival footage, photography, audio recordings and high-definition video recordings - approximately 200 hours of stories, songs, interviews, nature footage, dance, drumming, and other scenes. White Man’s Raven, a 400-page book by John Veltri (seeking publication) evolved from John’s years of working with Charlie and other Native elders.

Charles Thom Sr singing World Renewel song with ancient white deer skin at the Museum of Natural History in New York City 1981

(con’t from above)The main indicator of the start of these problems, he was told, would be the rumbling and venting of steam on Mount Shasta. If that happened, Charlie said, he was instructed to go to Mount Shasta, pray on the mountain and sing his songs, build a purification sweat lodge, and then open its door to all people. If he did that, people from many different cultures and walks of life would come to the ceremonies. It would be the beginning of a great healing that would go “worlds wide”.

In the late 1970s, when Mount Shasta did indeed begin to rumble, Charlie left his home, moved to the mountain and began a series of prayers. The mountain quieted down. In 1980, Charlie opened his ceremonial lodge door to all people. As was predicted, participants around the world came to the ceremony. 

Despite decades of discouragement and rejection from many in his tribe because of his sharing of cultural knowledge with non-Natives, Charlie persisted to offer healing ceremonies to all people. After conducting thousands of ceremonies throughout the US, Charlie has finally returned home to the place of his birth, to devote the rest of his life to advocating for environmental protection, cultural preservation, and the education of Karuk youth.

WALKING BACKWARDS is a feature-length documentary film about a controversial, traditional Northern California Karuk elder, Charles Thom Sr, who carries the ceremonial name of his great-grandfather, Walking Backwards.

In 1980 Charles Thom, Sr met photographer-filmmaker John Veltri at Stewart Mineral Springs, an old healing resort near Mount Shasta, in Northern California. Charlie told John about a prophecy that his uncle spoke of when he was a young man. The prophecy described a time of environmental and human crises - widespread devastation of the sacred mountains, the wildlife, the waters and the people.